There are those who believe the American Idol outcome
was as fishy as the O.J. verdict. The best explanation I've heard yet for the
result can be found in today's Parade magazine.
In the
Ask Marilyn
column by Marilyn vos Savant, a reader
asks, "Was the final voting on American Idol handled fairly? Each candidate was
assigned a toll-free number. To vote, viewers called the number of their preferred
candidate within a limited time period, but both lines were swamped the entire time.
I could never get through. So how could we know which candidate would have received
the most votes?" — Carl Castrianni, McKinney, Texas.
Marilyn's answer: "We wouldn't. In that case, all we
could measure is the slight difference between the capacities of the two toll-free
numbers during that period. If a system cannot process all the votes within the time
frame alloted, a nearly even outcome is guaranteed. In other words, one candidate could
have twice the number of fans, but we'd never know it. They would never be able to get
through the system to vote."
