var http_request = false;

    function makeRequest(poll_id) {

        http_request = false;

        if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...
            http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
            if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
                http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
                // See note below about this line
            }
        } else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
            try {
                http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
            } catch (e) {
                try {
                    http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
                } catch (e) {}
            }
        }

        if (!http_request) {
            alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
            return false;
        }
        
        var choice;
        
        for (var i = 0; i < document.poll.choice.length; i++) {
			if (document.poll.choice[i].checked) {
				break;
			}
        }
        url = "submitPoll.php?C="  + document.poll.choice[i].value + "&PID=" + poll_id;
		
        http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContents;
        http_request.open('GET', url, true);
        http_request.send(null);

    }

    function alertContents() {

        if (http_request.readyState == 4 || http_request.readyState=="complete") {
            if (http_request.status == 200) {
                
                //alert(http_request.responseText); // for text html response
                document.getElementById("pollDiv").innerHTML=http_request.responseText 
                
                // next 3 line for xml response, rem for html response
                //var xmldoc = http_request.responseXML;
				//var root_node = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('name').item(0);
				//alert(root_node.firstChild.data);
				
            } else {
                alert('There was a problem with the request.');
            }
        }

    }