Televoting

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Casting votes by phone call or text message, typically to choose a winner on a television show or competition
2. The practice of sending in choices by telephone during a live broadcast so viewers can pick a favourite contestant
3. Using a phone line or text to register a preference in a television programme or talent contest

Etymology: Televoting is a compound of "tele-", from Greek "tēle" meaning "far" or "at a distance", and "voting", the act of casting a ballot. The sense is simply voting by telephone, so the word's parts describe its function directly: a vote cast across a distance rather than in a polling booth or by a show of hands. The word's best-known setting is the television talent competition, where viewers phone or text in their choices and the results decide who advances or wins. The mechanism is what gives the term its meaning, since the vote travels through the same network that carries the broadcast itself.

Synonyms: telephone voting, phone voting, telephone polling