# Televoting

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{{Short description|Decision-making and opinion polling conducted by telephone}}
{{multiple issues|
{{Refimprove|date=December 2008}}
{{More footnotes|date=September 2011}}
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'''Televoting''' (also '''telephone voting''', '''phone voting''', and '''call-in voting''') is a method of [decision making](/source/decision_making) and [opinion poll](/source/opinion_poll)ing conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by [SMS](/source/SMS) text message via a mobile cell phone.

== Broadcast contest televoting ==
Televoting involves broadcasters providing an audience with different telephone numbers associated with contestants participating; the outcome is decided by the number of calls to each line. Televotes are most commonly used to determine weekly results in [reality competition](/source/reality_competition)s, such as ''[Big Brother](/source/Big_Brother_(franchise))'', ''[Dancing with the Stars / Strictly Come Dancing](/source/Dancing_with_the_Stars)'', ''[The Voice](/source/The_Voice_(franchise))'', ''[Idol](/source/Idol_franchise)'', and ''[The X Factor](/source/The_X_Factor)'' franchises. 

In [1997](/source/Eurovision_Song_Contest_1997), the [Eurovision Song Contest](/source/Eurovision_Song_Contest) began to phase in public televoting to determine its winner, with a mass rollout beginning in [1998](/source/1998_Eurovision_Song_Contest). Initially, televotes completely replaced the previous system, in which entries were scored by regional juries. These changes led to the increased prominence of "[bloc voting](/source/Voting_at_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest)"—in which a country's voting pattern would commonly favour neighbouring nations (such as [Scandinavia](/source/Scandinavia)n, [Baltic](/source/Baltic_States), [Balkan](/source/Balkan), and [CIS](/source/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States) countries), and countries with similar cultures ([UK](/source/UK) and [Ireland](/source/Ireland)). From 2009 to 2015, most countries used a 50/50 split between a jury and televoting results. Since [2016](/source/Eurovision_Song_Contest_2016), most countries still use a televoting process and a jury to determine the results, the votes are no longer combined and instead treated separately.

== Deliberative democracy televoting ==
A televote is initiated by random [sampling](/source/Sampling_(statistics)) of a population by means of random digit dialling.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} Those contacted are requested to volunteer to receive written background briefing materials regarding a particular issue, that have been prepared by a panel of representatives of different stakeholder groups affected by that issue, and incorporating various views or perspectives.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} Volunteers are requested to discuss the issue amongst their families and friends until they have reached a decision.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}  At the conclusion of this period they are polled again by telephone in order to determine their views.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

=== Advantages of televoting ===
Televoting is a more cost-effective method of democratic deliberation than many alternatives such as [deliberative polling](/source/Deliberative_opinion_poll), as it does not require the participants to meet in person.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

Common to other deliberative democratic techniques, it also tends to produce more reasoned decisions than "raw" opinion polling, because participants are exposed to various perspectives other than their own in the briefing materials that they receive.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

=== Disadvantages of televoting ===
Televoting may be less effective than other methods of democratic deliberation in which a trained moderator or facilitator is available in person to ensure that groups seriously deliberate on the issue before them.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

== See also ==
* [Deliberative democracy](/source/Deliberative_democracy)
* [Online deliberation](/source/Online_deliberation)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* Carson, L: "Innovative consultation processes and the changing role of activism", ''Third Sector Review'', 7(1):7, 2001.
* Slaton, C D. (1992), ''Televote: Expanding Citizen Participation in the Quantum Age'', Oxford: Praeger.

== External links ==
* [http://thataway.org/index.php/?page_id=499#T Definition of televoting from the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation]

Category:Types of polling
Category:Eurovision Song Contest
Category:Telephony in popular culture
Category:Telephone services

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Televoting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Televoting) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Televoting?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.