A bit of football stadium ballot stuffing? *

Last week I received a mass email from Staples Center inviting me to go to the Los Angeles Business Journal website and vote on a poll — and to bring my friends. Arena owner AEG, which wants to build an NFL stadium Downtown next to Staples Center, where part of the Convention Center stands now, seemed pretty interested in my vote:

VOTE FOR YOUR PREFERENCE NOW!

STAPLES Center Fan -

We wanted to make you aware that the Los Angeles Business Journal is conducting a survey to gauge general interest in two potential locations being discussed to build a football stadium: In downtown Los Angeles near STAPLES Center and in the City of Industry.

If you would like to vote for your preference, please click here. Thank you!

So I thought I'd check out the results. First, 26,601 voted — an extraordinary number for the LABJ's lightly visited website. By comparison, an actual hot button issue from the previous week — "should California boycott Arizona because of its new law that’s tougher on illegal immigrants?" — attracted just 254 total votes. So yeah, I'd say Staples Center got its core supporters out, and maybe Ed Roski also appealed to fans of his rival stadium project in the City of Industry. (* Update: He did.) The first City Council member who cites this poll as evidence of public support for a Downtown stadium should be laughed out of the horseshoe. Results after the jump.