by Bridget Webber

Created on: April 20, 2009   Last Updated: April 28, 2009

The hit show American Idol aims to discover the stars of tomorrow and to entertain it's viewers. However, although it doesn't fall short in either of these goals and has highlighted the talents of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, there is much controversy about the voting on the show.

American Idol provides a showcase for potential pop groups and singers, while giving the nation much fodder for discussion. Most of the discussions tend to revolve around the unsatisfactory voting methods used. These have produced problems in several areas and prompted disgruntled viewers to claim that the system is grossly unfair.

Number of Votes Allowed

One of the main difficulties highlighted is that voters seem to be allowed to cast their votes as many times as they please. If all was entirely fair in the voting world of American Idol voting would be limited to a certain number per household, as it has been for another talent show, 'The Nashville Star'.

Idol however, prefers to allow youngsters, who are said to be the main culprits, to jam phone lines and vote endlessly until they get the results that they want.

Possible Mistakes Ignored

An act of God, although I'm pretty sure he wasn't casting his vote, resulted in phone lines going down in Chicago during Idols season three. The bad weather that bought the lines down may have cost contestant Jennifer Hudson a huge amount of votes from this area. Yet there was no stalling of results, thus allowing for a re-vote to take place, and Jennifer lost her chance at the big time as a result.

Female Voters

Another complication that must surely effect the voting system is the fact the the main bulk of the voters are female. It is reported that 62% of American Idol viewers are women or girls. This may be good news for attractive and popular male artists who enter the ranks in the competition, but not so great for their female counterparts who are less likely to be voted for purely on their heartthrob status.

Popularity

A problem which ties in with the one above is that votes are made by people who may not know talent when they see it, and end up giving contestants sympathy votes, or vote for them because they simply like what they have seen, rather than what they have heard. In this sense American Idol can be seen more as a popularity contest than one based purely on talent.

Anti-Idol

Despite Idols massive fan base they also have an anti-Idol following who enjoy trying to put a spanner in the works by encouraging others to vote for the least talented contestants on the show. There is even a website committed to spoiling the votes containing suggestions as to who to vote for next after being deemed to be the worst contestant.

Votes in a Muddle

In the past votes have been muddled up which resulted in the wrong contestant being voted off. The votes of at least three contestants are known to have been incorrect due to mix ups.

There has also been a time when the phone number which viewers were invited to ring to cast their votes has been incorrectly shown on television screens.

All of these problems have added up to make the system of voting on American Idol highly controversial. There have been unsubstantiated reports that results have been fixed before voting has even taken place in some cases. However, it is possible that the source for such information comes from the anti-Idol corner of the arena.

Despite these difficulties American Idol remains one of the most popular talent shows ever produced and continues to entertain, outrage and amuse it's audience.

Sources; http://www.usatoday.com

http://www.idolstalker.com

http://www.associatedcontent.com

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