April 29, 2024
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Illegitimate voting leads La Salle not to name holiday home-decorating winner

City says many votes were coming from same IP addresses

By Maribeth M. Wilson
Michelle Meintz install lights on the Clean Bee Flooring and Upholstery Care Services Christmas trees on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, as she prepares the tree for the McHenry Chamber of Commerce Festival of Trees at the McHenry Recreation Center. The tree festival runs through Dec. 30, You can vote for your favorite Christmas tree by leaving canned food or toiletries under the tree you like best during normal business hours. All donations go to Veteran’s Path to Hope.

Michelle Meintz install lights on the Clean Bee Flooring and Upholstery Care Services Christmas trees on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, as she prepares the tree for the McHenry Chamber of Commerce Festival of Trees at the McHenry Recreation Center. The tree festival runs through Dec. 30, You can vote for your favorite Christmas tree by leaving canned food or toiletries under the tree you like best during normal business hours. All donations go to Veteran’s Path to Hope. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )

The city of La Salle announced Wednesday on Facebook that it was unable to determine a winner for its holiday home-decorating contest because of a large number of illegitimate votes received in the online contest.

“This event was meant to be a fun opportunity for families to drive through the city and see the hard work of our residents this season, and then vote on their favorites, but it is clear it hasn’t been met with that same spirit,” the city said in the Facebook post.

La Salle accepted photos of decorated homes to be shared on the city’s Facebook page, including a collective map, encouraging Facebook users to vote on their favorite display.

The home with the most likes was supposed to win a $300 La Salle gift card, while second place would receive a $200 gift card and third place would receive a $100 gift card.

815 Media volunteered to sponsor the voting platform with security measures to prevent individuals from creating accounts in rapid succession, according to the Facebook post.

But La Salle said the city was notified Tuesday that 815 Media took down the security measures after receiving a significant amount of online criticism and accusations of rigging the contest from the community.

The city said what resulted next was more than 600 votes coming in an estimated three-hour period, including multiple new accounts from the same IP addresses.

“We appreciate the time and effort 815 Media put in to support this community event,” the city said on Facebook. “We hope that families were still able to drive through the community and look at the wonderful displays this year.”