Will Bristol Palin’s dark horse success – and talk of a conspiracy to rig the voting – spur massive changes in the voting structure for “Dancing With the Stars”?
Not a chance, according to the show.
Producers have “no plans to change a voting system that’s been working for 11 seasons,” a show rep tells TheWrap.com.
Also read: Palin beats Brandy as ‘Dancing’ audience boos
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Swecker reported Friday that a “solid source” on the show told him that “not only was everyone stunned that Bristol will be in the finals” but that “it just made everyone realize the voting system really needs to be changed.”
Show runners discount talk of Sarah Palin’s supporters rigging the voting in her daughter’s favor. They’re so confident in their security measures that they believe even people who think they’ve rigged the system may be fooling themselves.
Also read: ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska’ has best-ever TLC debut
The show’s built-in defenses include an anti-robo-calling measure that limits the number of votes from each phone to five once the show is down to five or fewer contestants.
Still, it’s impossible to discount Palin’s impact on the voting: Though the show doesn’t disclose votes totals, it announced Tuesday that last week it received the most-ever votes in a semi-final week. And Palin backers are openly campaigning online and over the airwaves in a clearly successful get-out-the-vote operation.
One of her enthusiastic supports, HillBuzz blogger Kevin DuJan, has encouraged fans to “Keep voting like you are a Democrat! Early and often.”
Palin, who last week bumped off the heavily favored Brandy, competes in the final next week against the Disney Channel’s Kyle Massey and early frontrunner Jennifer Grey of “Dirty Dancing.”
Few would claim Palin is the best dancer in the bunch, which is why the contest has so very, very much at stake: A win for her might transform our world into one in which people win elections through personality, dumb luck, and rallying the base — not because of their worthiness to win. Shudder.