Minnesota is justly proud of its high voter turnout. But it should be ashamed of its attempt to limit media access near polling sites.

The state tightened restrictions on media trying to do exit polling with a law prohibiting anyone but voters and judges from being within 100 feet of the building in which a polling place is located.

That’s considerably more stringent than the original law, which limited exit polling to 100 feet beyond the actual voting spot in a building.

Several media outlets, including the major television networks and The Associated Press, have sued the state and await a federal court ruling.

Whatever you might think about polling, it remains a useful and valid tool for the media and public. Pollsters generally approach voters outside, after they leave the voting place, and ask them if they’ll participate in the poll. The media outlets almost uniformly — as they should — wait until polls close in a state before using that exit polling data to predict who has won races in that state.

One of the Minnesota law’s authors said the strict prohibition is needed to give voters privacy. No one has suggested voters should be approached very near the voting booth area and we are aware of no cases where a voter felt they were harassed or their voting privacy infringed upon.

Access to the voters isn’t just an issue for national media trying to do polling. Local reporters writing about school board, city council and county races gain valuable insights, quotes and comments from voters to explain why a vote went the way it did.

The law banning anyone from being within 100 feet of the building in which polling takes places is far too restrictive. It would mean reporters could not talk to people on the sidewalks or, in most cases, even in the parking lots as they left the polling place.

Only Minnesota has such an onerous requirement and the court should strike down the law as unconstitutionally broad.

This Nov. 4 it looks like there will be broad, perhaps historic, interest in the elections. Needlessly limiting access to the opinions of voters is not something Minnesota should want to be known for.

— The Free Press of Mankato, Oct. 8