Can East Coast still vote up until the West Coast "2 hours" limit?
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TV ClubHouse: Archive: I'm a celebrity -- Get me out of here!: Can East Coast still vote up until the West Coast "2 hours" limit?

Sanfranjoshfan

Monday, March 03, 2003 - 09:35 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I just had a discussion with a friend. We know the show airs LIVE east coast time, and it airs 3 hours later here on the west coast. During the telecast they continually say that you can vote "until two hours after the show" airs.

MY feeling is that if you are on the east coast...when the show airs at 8pm EST (5pm PST) and is over at 9pm EST , the east coasters are actually getting MORE time to phone in their votes. If they close the lines 2 hours after the show airs on the west coast, that means the lines are open until 11 pm PST, which is 1am EST.

My friend believes that they have screened the area codes in order to accept only the area codes from the particular time zone that is still within their respective 2 hour time limit (locally, as the show airs). In that case, only phone votes from the west coast are currently being accepted.

*I* believe that they aren't being *that* picky, that the lines are open until 2 hours after the latest time zone has aired the show. Just like the show always says "LIVE" in the corner when we know it is *not* actually LIVE on the west coast....I maintain that the most likely scenario is that the "2 hour limit" is actually just longer for the east coast.

I thought of one way to test it.... if someone on the east coast is still able to cast votes RIGHT NOW it will tell me that the lines are actually open longer for the east coast. It is currently 9:30 pm west coast time and the phone lines are supposed to remain open for another hour and a half. If east coasters can still vote up the WEST COAST's 2 hour limit (11 pm west coast time) then the "2 hour limit" is actually only true for west coasters.

So....can anyone verify this?

Thanks!

Wcv63

Monday, March 03, 2003 - 09:53 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
SanFran...I can't test this theory for you as I'm not an East Coaster BUT I can say that American Idol used the area code time zone screening to ensure a two hour voting block only during the first season of AI. There was one area code in Texas that somehow straddled time zones that fell through the cracks and was able to vote for longer but that was an aberration and not the norm.

I suspect that since Fox has had prior experience with the call-in voting that they have things set up in the same vein.

Sanfranjoshfan

Monday, March 03, 2003 - 10:21 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wcv3 - thanks! (even though you are proving me wrong!) :)

Seamonkey

Monday, March 03, 2003 - 10:38 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I would have guessed the same thing, SFJF.. I also think we could probably vote early (those of us on the west coast.. maybe I'll try it tomorrow night. I know we can vote during the show; I did that tonight.

Kellee

Tuesday, March 04, 2003 - 04:41 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I do know for the online voting you are able to do that till 2 hours after the West coast show and still have it count..cause you chose the time zone that you want to vote in...such as I did last night when my dear hubby tied up the computer until 11:30 and I would have missed voting in my own time zone...:)