mysql> desc poll; +-------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra | +-------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ | id | int(10) unsigned | | PRI | 0 | auto_increment | | poll | varchar(50) | | | | | +-------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ #### mysql> desc poll_votes; +---------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra | +---------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ | id | int(10) unsigned | | PRI | 0 | auto_increment | | poll_id | int(10) unsigned | | | 0 | | | address | varchar(50) | | | | | +---------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+ #### mysql> select * from poll; +----+--------+ | id | poll | +----+--------+ | 1 | perl | | 2 | python | | 3 | C | | 4 | C++ | +----+--------+ mysql> select * from poll_votes; +----+---------+----------+ | id | poll_id | address | +----+---------+----------+ | 1 | 1 | junk | | 2 | 2 | junk | | 3 | 2 | morejunk | +----+---------+----------+ #### select p.poll from poll p left outer join poll_votes pv on pv.poll_id=p.id and pv.address='junk' where pv.poll_id is null; #### +------+ | poll | +------+ | C | | C++ | +------+