California - New York Times report claims that AT&T might have influenced the votes. AT&T is one of the biggest sponsors of the singing contest, and they are now accused of providing phones and instructions on how to vote 10 times faster.

Officials of Fox Broadcasting declined to give any statement but according to a spokesperson of AT&T issued Tuesday, "In Arkansas, we were invited to attend the local watch parties organized by the community. A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested."

New York Times' report added that reps of AT&T helped the hometown fans of Mr. Allen at the two Arkansas events by providing detailed instructions on how to send 10 or more text messages at the press of a single button, known as power texts.