POLLING RULES4 contestants will face off with each other in each voting round.
7 votes are alloted to each voter to disperse among the 4 contestants however they choose. Often there will be more than one contestant that a voter may like. All 7 votes have to be cast at the same time.
Blind voting. The % of votes each contestant has is not revealed until the round is over. This has been determined to be the best way to avoid sway. Being swayed is knowing the polling results at the time you cast yours. If your favored contestant is not in a position to win or very behind (regardless of their actual chances to win), you cast your votes for another contestant so your votes 'count'. Resulting in a skewed popular vote due to voters misperception. The reality could be your votes would have ensured your favored candidate placed for the next series.
Timed voting. The first series will be timed at 2 days (48 hours). The remaining series will be timed at 3 days (72 hours). Any deviation to this simple rule must be identified before the polling event starts. At the end of the timed period: No more votes are accepted and the results (% of votes received) is displayed for each contestant.
Once the list of contestants is identified (a pool figure divisible by 4) they are placed in a single column of a spreadsheet in alphabetical order.
A random number generator is applied with the lower range being 1 and the upper range always being the number of contestants in the pool. For example: if there are 28 contestants, the random numbers will range from 1-28. Following randomization, the resulting set of numbers is applied to the 2nd column of the spreadsheet from top to bottom next to the contestants' names in the spreadsheet.
Polling rounds are defined by the numbers randomly placed next to the contestant names in sequential groups of 4. Using 28 contestants as the example the contestants are matched as follows: 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-24 and 25-28. This series of the poll would consist of 7 rounds. The rounds are always played sequentally. 1-4 goes first and 25-28 goes last.
When a series is finished *half of the contestants move forward by selecting the contestants with the highest % of votes received. No exceptions. A contestant may take 2nd place in a round of a series and not make it through to the next. Occasionally a contestant that won their round is excluded. This method however ensures (as best it can) that contestant popularity is always the primary deciding factor.
For each series, the 4 steps above are repeated until the FINAL FOUR contestants are identified. The FINAL FOUR is decided as follows: the contestant with the highest % votes is the winner and the contestant with the 2nd highest % votes is the runner-up. Any deviations from this method of 'placement' must be disclosed before the first round of the first series is started.
*In the case where half of the contestants moving forward would result in a total not divisible by 4, the contestant(s) with the highest % votes get a bye (sit out till the next series). When those who got the bye are brought back into play it will adjust the contestants moving forward by only including those with the highest % votes to make a total divisible by 4.