The American Idol Top 20 begin performing Monday night with new ways for fans to vote. (ABC Photo)
American Idol announced new voting methods Thursday via a video featuring Ryan Seacrest.
The show also left lots of unanswered questions.
Such as when fans will need to cast their votes.
First, let’s cover what we do know.
Fans will start voting Monday night when the first 10 of the Top 20 perform.
Guys performing Monday will be Braden Rumfelt, Brooks Rosser, Daniel Stallworth, Jake Thistle, Jesse Findling and Kutter Bradley.
Gals performing Monday will include Hannah Harper, Genevieve Heyward, Kyndal Inskeep and Makiyah.
The second half of the Top 20 will perform Monday, March 23.
Fans can continue to cast votes at americanidol.com and via text.
But there will also be social media voting. The show will put a pinned post on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Fans can vote by commenting a singer’s first name. And each fan can comment 10 times per singer per site.
Fans will no longer be voting via the American Idol app.
But add up all those Season 24 voting options, and a single fan can vote for their favorite 50 times, compared to 30 a year ago.
The show hasn’t announced how Top 20 voting will work. Last season, the top five vote-getters from each night advanced. Then the judges picked four singers to round out a Top 14.
There’s also the issue of when fans will have to cast their votes.
Remember, in recent seasons American Idol has used live voting on show nights, with results announced the end of a show.
But in recent seasons, American Idol has aired on Sundays when the show aired at the same time throughout the nation and, presumably, it wouldn’t be too difficult for everyone to vote at the same time, regardless of time zone.
What happens now that Idol is airing Monday nights?
We don’t have the answer yet. Hopefully, the change will mean the show goes back to overnight voting.
Otherwise the show is going to put West Coast contestants at a severe disadvantage, with a voting period that runs from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. there, before the show has even started to air.
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