by Shilo Dawn Goodson

Created on: April 27, 2009

As much as we might not want to admit it, "American Idol" is all about the drama. If it's not about how such and such a person shouldn't be on the show because of a previous recording contract or how someone secretly had previous connections to one of the judges, it's about something else. Often the controversy is about the voting methods of the show. No voting method is going to be completely fair, so no matter how they go about having people vote, there is going to be someone complaining. There are several different and sometimes interconnected voting controversies.

Unfair Voting Methods

One of the biggest voting controversies involves simply the belief that the voting methods are not fair. Some people own phones that are going to dial faster than other people's phones. Some people have friends who are also going to vote for that person. There are online programs that people have to help them get in more votes. Texting a vote is quicker than calling in the vote, so some people think that teenagers and young adults have the advantage, because they are the ones who are going to be faster at texting their votes. This way they can vote more times in a shorter amount of time. Some people can just sit there for a couple of hours after the show and just vote. Many people believe that it is the teenagers doing this. Other people will put in a few votes for their favorite/s, and then they are done voting for the day. This means that one viewer might vote five or six times while another viewer votes hundreds of times. People feel that it's unfair for one person to get in more votes than another person simply because the one person has more time to vote. This means that the person who is really the most popular might not get the most votes.

For some people, the solution to the unfair voting method would be for people to only get a certain amount of votes per phone. This is the voting method that "America's Got Talent" uses. Unfortunately, this still would not solve the problem. Some people have more than one phone. There are people with two cell phones and a home phone. This would still allow this person three times the votes of someone who has only a cell phone (or a home phone). No matter how they decide to have people vote, the process is not going to be fair. Someone is going to find a way to cheat the system.

Vote-For-the-Worst

Yes, vote-for-the-worst is its own "American Idol" voting controversy. It is a web site where people are encouraged to vote for a certain singer

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