I was watching American Idol ...

Question: I was watching American Idol last night, but as usual, every time I tried to call, I couldn't get through because the lines were busy. I'm not obsessed enough with the show to try more than a few times, so my question is: How can American Idol claim to ouster people with the fewest votes, when it seems like half the votes aren't even being counted because the lines are busy?! Is it possible that they're actually getting it wrong week after week? (Although, to be fair, I'm OK with everyone who has left so far — except for Mandisa!)
Answer: This question comes up every season, perhaps less this year than in earlier seasons. The voting procedure and the actual results tally are easily the most controversial aspects of the show, and I don't have a good answer on how one could possibly gauge their accuracy. (This week I actually placed some calls as an experiment on Tuesday night to see if they'd go through — also because I thought the judges were unnecessarily harsh to Katharine McPhee, especially in light of how abysmal Kellie and Paris were. I used my redial function, which isn't as fast as I'd like it to be. I got through a handful of times, but the lines were often busy.) Perhaps you can take some comfort that if the lines you were calling were always busy, that at least means someone else was voting for your favorite.