Are Too Many Newspaper Comic Polls a Sham?

It's the ugly little secret that, within the newspaper comics industry and among avid comics followers, is nobody's secret at all:

Namely, that the frequently used Newspaper Comics Reader Poll might be long-standing, but it is hardly upstanding. It has walked on the wrong side of the statistical tracks far too often, stirring so much scorn, skepticism and controversy that it might as well wear a scarlet "A" -- for "adulterated accuracy."

[From Are Too Many Newspaper Comic Polls a Sham? - Comic Riffs - Michael Cavna strips down the funnies]

The most startling news here isn't that some low-lifes would try to rig a comics poll -- horrors! -- but that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution employs a comics editor. Holy Batman! How do I get a job like that? I think this is my true calling. Maybe if YAME's Curmudgeon-In-Chief would step up to the big time and add a comics page...

...notes Midwest Bureau Cub Reporter Paul Knue