Should American Idol change the voting method?

Question

After this season and the joke it has become, it is time to limit the vote of us crazy and "ignorant" Americans to a point. Vote the worst performer off, should be the new method format.

Answer 1

The voting process is ridiculous. It always has been. Every other "vote" based show either limits the voting to 1 to 5 votes or so per phone line or you vote off who you think should go. When Ryan Seacrest says, "after a record number of votes" it only means that people are voting 100's of times for 1 contestant. The show is a popularity contest, not a singing contest. The voting HAS to be modified or the show is going to start losing market share. Idol may retain the teeny boppers but the mature adult fan base is going to drop off if, it hasn't already.

Answer 2

They have got to do something cos really good singers are getting voted off why the likes of Sanjaya are still there it is totally out of order he has a really nasty sounding voice he should not still be there...The judges should vote for the worst 3 and then the vote should go to the public..

Answer 3

Yes they should change the voting method. Maybe they should consider only allowing 1 maybe 2 votes per call or something similar to this to allow the good singers the opportunity to stay and the bad ones will be gone and we won't have to be tormented by their singing as long as we have by Sanjaya.

Answer 4

YES. The voting method definitely needs to be changed to voting of the WORST performer. Sanjaya would be long gone.

Answer 5

And the winner is oh he's so wonderful and there 2000 votes in the two hr time decrease. unhappy merchandising and little women are working the instruct. the excellent singer not often wins in those competitions! Im no longer pretending to understand who it fairly is or how extreme they are going to upward push. in my opinion and it not often concerns in this occasion. balloting is poor and the greater youthful woman Jessica has the excellent voice and with numerous artwork can or will positioned out some fairly wonderful tunes.

Answer 6

What if... people voted for an electorate, the size of which depended upon the population of their state, who would then in turn decide who stays and who goes on American Idol?

Answer 7

Don't Expect a Better Voting System
by James Shepherd -- 04/17/2003


The method of voting for American Idol has faced a great deal of criticism. People can vote over and over, and a relatively small number can alter the overall results - a possible explanation for several recent departures. What are the alternatives and would Fox likely ever consider them? James Shepherd takes a look.

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Even though the method of voting for American Idol has been criticized from many quarters, it is very doubtful that it will change. The main point of criticism against its established telephone system of voting is that all too often, the best contestants do not necessarily remain. The latest case in point was the loss of Rickey Smith last week. Though Rickey probably should not have made it to even the final three contestants, why is it that contestants like Kimberly Caldwell - whose singing performances have been, for the most part, far less than perfect - remain?

Needless to say, the same criticism came out last year when Nikki McKibbin made it to the final three contestants. Her singing, although not bad when given a certain type of song with a limited range, was more than often quite flat. Yes, she was attractive, but who was the better singer - Nikki or Tamyra Gray? In fact, who should have been in the final two? Obviously, Kelly and Tamyra, but Tamyra made it to only fourth position.


Is There a Problem with the Present Method of Voting?

I believe there is a problem with this present method of voting. Since one person can vote multiple times for just one contestant, the factor of the "loyalty" vote comes into play. A person can commit themselves to just one candidate and vote continually for this person in the two-hour span. It is theoretically possible for 2,000 people voting in this fashion to generate a million votes for the same contestant. Using the redialing feature of a phone is not a high-tech technique these days.

Therefore, if there are 2,000 people out there who vote for Kim Caldwell because they think she is beautiful and blond and needs to win the competition, they can keep her in there for a long time. If 10,000 Mormons in Utah decide to commit themselves to Carmen Rasmusen, they can give her five million votes each week. I'm not saying that this is happening, but think about it! Why do you think that in democratic political elections, the concept of one vote per person is the rule? If multiple votes were allowed in democratic elections, untold chaos and corruption would result. Is a "talent" program any different?


Is There a More Fair System of Voting Available?

Yes there is a far more fair system of voting available. First of all, one vote per voter should be a given. This could, I believe, be technically achieved through the phones. However, a far better system of voting is currently being used now and it uses the resources of the Internet - Star Search. As an aside, I would also like to point out that on the Internet, one can fairly well control one vote per computer through the use of cookies and IP addresses.

When the public votes for the Star Search contestants, they are presented with a rating system that exactly matches the rating that the judges use on this CBS program. One rates the contestants on a scale of from 1 to 5, and all of the contestants in their particular category must be rated before you can use the submit button. Therefore, if you like both candidates equally, you can give them both 5s. If you love one and hate the other, you can give one 5 and the other 1, respectively. This is all done through the miracle of the Internet.


How Would this Work on American Idol?

Obviously, such a rating system would have to be modified to accommodate the corporate culture behind American Idol, but that should not be hard to do. For instance, only the public would be allowed to vote. They would not let the judges do any ratings and have 50% of the impact on the voting as it is done on Star Search. Also, a scale of 10 could be devised, but the highest rating being "9," with the lowest being a "-1," enabling someone to actually vote against a contestant. However, one would only be able to use this "-1" against one of the contestants each week. But in essence, the one voter would rate ALL of the contestants, but on a scale. This would be a fair and equitable system of voting for American Idol.

I would also like to point out that as I have been a rabid follower of Star Search as well as American Idol, as for the actual winners on Star Search, not once have I been disappointed on the outcome of the voting from the public. In other words, I have felt in the case for every winner, that the correct contestant was chosen. However, I cannot for the life of me say the same thing about those who are left on American Idol.


Voting System for American Idol Will Not Change Though

It is my personal opinion that Fox will not change their one person/multi-vote method for two reasons. The first reason is that when 20 million votes are made in a two-hour period, the Fox executives can shows these figures to their advertisers as a verification that the Nielson ratings are not all that off. The more viewers there are, the higher the advertising rates can be on a TV program. This is simply a financial reality. The second reason is that when the voting system yields such screwy results, as it inevitably will (if they get 20 million votes, there may be only 3-4 million people actually voting and many are voting simply out of loyalty and not for talent), then this provides the element of unpredictability, and unpredictability provides controversy, and controversy breeds publicity and a lot of free advertising for the program.

However, maybe the Fox executives should consider the Internet route for voting. I do not know how well the advertising rates are doing on the Internet these days, but I do know that most webmasters would kill to have several million people visit their website one day a week for several months. I guess it all comes down to a balance among TV ratings, rational voting methods, and making money. I would imagine that Fox has it all worked out
***this is from a website***

Answer 8

I suggest a panel of 10 judges...This would keep Randy and the druggie from having a monopoly.
All guest panel members could be made up of music backgrounds and even some past winner on idol.

Answer 9

I think that shoyuld i'm not exactly sure how but i think good judges sould decide who wins because regular people vote like a million times and it's not even for who is really a good singer.

Answer 10

I totally agree. They are keeping the worst performer and taking off all the good ones!