The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame have extended public voting for next year’s induction, after it was claimed that the poll had been hacked.
After having drawn more than 850,000 votes over the past six weeks, a sudden spike saw more than 500,000 more votes added to the total – with Journey leading the race, ahead of ELO, The Cars, Yes and Pearl Jam.
Tracking site Future Rock Legends, which analyses the Rock Hall’s output but is not affiliated to the organisation, claimed that the increase was “not normal.”
The suggestion led to speculation that the poll had been hacked, as it was in 2015 when up to 100million votes may have been artificially added.
Journey tweeted: “Don’t know what happened but this appears to have been hacked. We were 5k in lead, now 2k.”
But the Hall Of Fame exec Todd Mesek told Cleveland.com: “There was no over-voting. The votes that were released were being held to make sure we could validate their authenticity.
“We made the decision to release these votes to the public website at one time.”
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Future Rock Legends asked: “What kind of polling operation holds onto 40% of votes for a month, then releases them all at once with little explanation?”
The poll, which was to close on December 5, will now end on December 15. Fans are allowed to vote once a day, every day, until then.
The public vote does not guarantee induction, but is counted towards the poll of Rock Hall affiliates, who must deliver their decisions by December 16.
Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame nominees 2017
Bad Brains
Chaka Khan
Chic
Depeche Mode
ELO
The J Geils Band
Jane’s Addiction
Janet Jackson
Joan Baez
Joe Tex
Journey
Kraftwerk
MC5
Pearl Jam
Steppenwolf
The Cars
The Zombies
Tupac Shakur
Yes
Readers poll result: Iron Maiden for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
