Does American Idol’s voting process need to be changed? Should producers take steps to make the voting fair? If changes were made how would it affect the ratings of the show?
At no time during American Idol’s inception has there been more controversy than this season. Groups and websites have been created to get votes for their contestant or to try and sway the public not to vote for a contestant. In response to votefortheworst.com to back a certain contestant other websites have sprung up to combat them.
In this article I suggest some changes that could be made and how it might effect the show. Regardless of what others believe about American Idol’s integrity this would only effect when and how votes are gathered.
One suggestion would be to not allow the public to vote until the top ten. This could possibly cause AI to drop in ratings because the general public would have no input until the top ten has been decided. One main question would be would the public watch AI later instead of the early rounds. It may not cause a ratings drop at all.
Another suggestion would be to take the voting off the phones and stick it on the Internet. The same technology that tracks ip addresses could be used to only allow one vote from that ip. You could also let the public vote a certain number of times from the same ip.
You could also still use the phones but discount any duplicate votes that came from the same number. This however would would be difficult to do and make the voting process to take longer to compile.
If the website was used to record votes the public would have to make an account and the email address could only be used once. The registered user could use the same account again in future seasons. Social Security numbers could be used to be used as verification or credit cards. The only real problem there is that some of the younger viewers may not be allowed to vote if they did not have the proper verification items the site would require.
The current voting process allows viewers to vote more than once if they can get through. There have been hints that some are using sophisticated dialers to get through and record their votes. Some people who were interviewed have accused other voting groups as cheating. They make reference to using the Internet to gather sympathetic voters to their cause.
After this season I would not be surprised if steps are taken to change the voting process or change the way the votes are collected.
American Idol with all the controversy is still the highest rated TV show. Millions of viewers watch every week to see who gets to stay and who goes home. Emotions run high as viewers flock to the websites to voice their opinions and root for their favorites.
What ever happens this year or if any changes are ever made American Idol will survive and thrive.
