Its not because America was evenly divided, nor was it by chance, but here's why. America had to call 2 different phone numbers to vote. They said that 24 million people called in. After it was over that was almost 12 million for each. However, if you voted for Clay you were talking to one phone system, if you voted for Ruben you called another system. Both systems are identical and only have a certain capacity. If each system is jam packed for 3 hours then you are going to get almost the same number of votes for each contestant! What they needed to do was have everybody call one phone number and then when prompted you press a 1 or a 2. Then we truly would know who got more votes!

• RE: American Idol Voting Rigged,joannie, 09:52 AM, 05-23-03
  • RE: American Idol Voting Rigged,gatorbuzz, 11:00 AM, 05-23-03
• RE: American Idol Voting Rigged,managerr, 11:26 AM, 05-23-03
  • System fixed since the beginning........,jase, 11:53 AM, 05-23-03
• RE: American Idol Voting Rigged,managerr, 12:25 PM, 05-23-03
• Exactly,IslandFever, 10:29 PM, 05-23-03

That's a very good idea, gator. It should be about how many VOTES you get, not how many times you can get through. Ruben's fans were just voting FASTER than Clay's!

I still want to know how Ruben's mother was able to vote 200 times and others could only get through once.

Not that Rubens fans were faster, its just that there being 24 million votes if its 13,000 (or whatever number they changed it to now) that separated them then that number is insignifacant. Ruben just got lucky and happened to be on top after 3 hours. I also have heard lots of people not getting through. My mom called from down in florida and every time she called she got through. She said she could made about 50 calls in an hour and just did it for one hour. But that doesn't matter, both phone number were jam packed for 3 hours! It was just luck ruben won.

Yeah, others have said the same. Fox learned they could keep the vote close by having less lines available. They wanted a close race. Last season's finale had 20 million calls as well and I don't remember it being as busy as it was. (And I was calling for Kelly)

The voting system has been fixed since this show started last year and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's over now, so there's no point in crying about votes. It's not all about talent or looks, but who can make FOX,RCA Records, Coke, Ford and AT&T the most money. This time around it's Ruben, next year, it's someone else. Who cares???????

A brief blurb on phone volume in the link below. Look at how many calls didn't get through!

http://www.etonline.com/newslink/index.htm

My husband had the same idea about having only one phone line. Great minds think alike. If you want to complain to the FCC check out www.dldewey.com