If you look at the poll data, you will see that Garrett Hise (my oldest son, a blogger and writer in his own right) won by a very large margin. However, I reviewed the actual voting records to determine whether there were any irregularities. Unfortunately, there were. The predominate amount of his votes came from the same IP address (someone voting by Verizon Wireless) just a few minutes apart.
Neither he nor I know who this might have been, and I hesitate to call it malicious. It may be that whoever was doing this was simply applying American Idol voting rules. Either way, I realize I may have been remiss in expressly pointing out that only one vote per person is allowed.
By virtue of the adjustment, David Antrobus is this week’s winner. I have contacted both David and Garrett to let them know what happened. David’s OFFICIAL recognition will occur tomorrow as per usual.
In the mean time, I have made adjustments to the vote capturing elements of the software program so this does not happen again. We will also clearly post that only one vote per person is allowed. This ain’t Chicago.
I apologize for any confusion caused by this.
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I have been on voting sites where, once you have voted, it won't allow you to vote again. Is there something you can do to get your plug-in to do that?
Thanks Diane. I believe that the evil mastermind has now set it up that way. I guess we'll find out next week, won't we?
🙂
That's what I've just done. It actually was working that way, but evidently the smart-phones get around the standard security setting, so I have ramped it up. Thanks Diane.
Congrats DA. Shenanigans make the victory that much sweeter. 🙂
Well I don't know that Garrett cares but I voted for him. It was a close tie for awhile with David, but finally I just realized that the last line of his story gave me that little chill I so enjoy. You can also tell him I used to be a magazine editor and I'd have bought that piece in a heartbeat.
I voted for him too. I agree with you, Pam, about the last line. I think that's what decided me.
Thanks, I appreciate it. A compliment comes in handy after losing 91 votes. I couldn't believe that some knuckle head did that. For the entire day I thought I was loved by all. LOL.
P.S. Unfortunately I already sold it to another magazine, 92 times. 😉
While it IS a competition, I also see it as a friendly way to get to know each others' writing, to motivate us to connect, and to have fun. I have to say I enjoyed ALL the entries and look forward to more. Who wins is, for me, just an extra smile.
Sure don't know where you all find the energy for all this work, both administering and writing, but I love it.
Zero out of 135 votes … ouch.
Actually, it would be zero out of 44 votes, Christopher. As I explained, some of the votes were disqualified. Zero though? Really? You do know you can vote for yourself, right?