Fantasia and Diana are Idol 3 finalists; voting company says the problem is local.
Georgians, you can stop rioting now and get your rotary dial phones ready; Hawaii, get ready to secede from the union. Jasmine Trias left American Idol 3 last night, leaving Fantasia Barrino, 19, and Diana DeGarmo, 16, to battle it out for the title next week. Meanwhile, the voting drama continues: USA TODAY interviewed, exclusively, the company that counts the votes. Telescope Inc.’s Sandy King said the problem is local, not national: “The call figures are astronomical. Only a certain number can be processed at the local level.” Using technical jargon designed to confuse and bewilder lay persons, she explained, “We’ve got the biggest, best and fairest system available.” The Associated Press got into the middle of the action, calling furiously from different locales. Their reporters only managing to make four successful calls out of more than 100 tries. They didn’t really discover much, except in Georgia, where “the second call went through and a vote for DeGarmo was placed. But after hanging up, the phone went dead for 17 minutes.”