How the 'Dancing' vote was hacked

Cosmic Log: "Thad Hall is an associate professor of computer science at the University of Utah and a research affiliate with the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project. He told me that the voting systems on reality-TV shows such as 'Dancing With the Stars' and 'American Idol' are designed to gauge popular support for the various contestants, and 'they do that by creating a very open process.' In other words, this isn't supposed to be a 'one person, one vote' election.
Stopping voter fraud is likely a low priority, Hall said. They could put in controls to more stictly authenticate voters such as requiring viewers to register through their cable box and limit households to a set number of votes. But at the end of the day, 'the show is interested in one thing: they are interested in ratings,' he said.

Measures to more strictly police the voting would only be put in place if the controversy about the fairness of the system drove viewers away. As long as the controversy boosts ratings, it's "a good thing."