datsaxman, let me reference a post from early in this thread:
...That said, I got a reminder email from the sweepstakes folks that said the following:
“Each Valid Entry may be voted on by the general public, including by each Participant; however, a person may submit only one (1) vote per day per person and/or per IP address during the Public Voting Phase.”
In layman's terms, it means you can vote once daily, and each person is limited to one vote daily, also restricted by computer. If you're voting, and you can get your wife/gf/so to vote as well, they have to use a different computer, and if you have multiple computers/email addresses, you can still only vote once. I think they sent it because someone's voting support may have been violating that and votes weren't counting. PLEASE vote, and please ask your friends and family to vote!
The reason I posted it was to note the IP restriction for people who have multiple family members, but may have been trying to vote on the same machine. I had to explain to my parents that dad can vote from his computer, but that means that mom has to vote from her computer, since the IP address for dad's machine has already been used to submit a vote that day.
I fully understand that the sweepstakes company running the contest for Kawasaki would be completely justified within the rules to not count double votes. The 'vote early, vote often' thing I have posted on a couple of sites and my facebook page, is a vague reference to the Chicago-style multiple votes system this contest is set up under. From a $ cost perspective, having their 8 semi-finalists essentially pimping Kawasaki on the web (facebook, forums, etc) is a brilliant use of what is nearly free labor. I also understand that they may disqualify someone who were to attempt to defraud the voting system. Plus, as you rightly noticed, 80% of the scoring to determine the 4 finalists does come from the Kawasaki judges. Generally speaking, it would not be in their best interests to not bring the clear leader in the public voting. However, the percentages being what they are, this gives them some leeway in selecting from amongst possible semi-finalists should there be a 'whole, rounded-off percentage point' tie at the end of the voting.
With that, I appreciate your support, though I cannot condone or request that anyone vote multiple times. If you'd reconsider, please continue voting, once per day until 14 April.