Exit Poll Clipboard Standardization Board Mandates 9×12, Ruins Retiree’s Beloved Mini-Clipboard

MAPLE COUNTY — The Exit Poll Clipboard Standardization Board has voted unanimously to require 9-by-12-inch clipboards for all election-night surveying, a ruling that has devastated 73-year-old retiree Walt Kessler and his beloved mini-clipboard, a 6-by-9-inch companion he has carried to 11 consecutive elections.

The board’s decision, three years in the making, cites uniformity, professionalism, and the embarrassing 2024 incident in which a surveyor’s novelty taco-shaped clipboard was mistaken for a protest sign. Board chair Angela Ruiz said the standard had to be set somewhere, and 9-by-12 is where the paper fits without folding, which she called the whole point of a clipboard.

Kessler, who conducts exit polls as a volunteer for the county historical society’s oral history project, accepted the ruling with visible emotion. He held the mini-clipboard aloft at the hearing and said, This little guy has heard 4,000 voters’ stories. He then placed it gently in a tote bag, which the minutes record as a moment of silence.

The board did grant Kessler a ceremonial exemption for the historical society’s archive work, allowing the mini-clipboard’s continued use for non-official interviews conducted at least 100 feet from any polling place entrance. Kessler called the exemption a kindness and immediately used the mini-clipboard to take notes on the hearing itself.

The new standard also specifies clipboard material (hardboard or better, no novelty shapes), clip strength (must hold 25 sheets in a 15 mph wind), and color (any, though the board expressed a preference for what Ruiz called serious brown). A bulk order of 60 compliant clipboards has been placed, at a cost the budget office approved without comment, which staff interpreted as either trust or fatigue.

Training for exit poll volunteers will include a new 20-minute module on clipboard posture, paper alignment, and the proper way to decline when a voter attempts to take the survey home as a souvenir, which happened twice in 2024. Volunteers will also be issued lanyards, pens with county branding, and a firm handshake.

Kessler, for his part, has already purchased a regulation 9-by-12 board, which he has named Big Walt. He says it feels impersonal but holds paper beautifully. The mini-clipboard has been retired to his mantel, where it sits beside his poll worker name badges, his I Voted sticker collection, and, as of this week, a tiny framed copy of the board’s ruling.

The standardization takes effect with early voting. Voters are advised that the people with the big clipboards are official, the man with the small one is Walt, and both would love to hear about your voting experience.