Art Fund Prize vote criticised
Concerns over the validity of the public voting process for the Art Fund Prize have been raised after it emerged it is possible to vote using fake email addresses.
It appears that members of the public can vote by entering their name and email address, but are not required to verify their vote – suggesting it could be possible to vote using more than one email address or even by providing fake details.
A spokeswoman for the Art Fund Prize said votes are being monitored by IP address: “Voting is closely monitored and there are additional measures in place to ensure that suspicious and mechanical multiple votes cannot be made.”
Iain Watson, acting director of Tyne and Wear Museums, which is nominated for the prize for the Great North Museum, said: “I would be concerned if people were tampering with the voting process. We’ve worked hard to drum up support, and I would hope other museums behave properly.”
The general public were first given the opportunity to have their say on the prize last year via an online poll hosted by the Guardian website, with the results counting as one judge’s vote.
However, the paper was forced to close the poll early following “an attempt to tamper with the vote”. It is believed that an additional 15,000 votes were cast for one museum at the last minute.
This year, the result of the public poll will be used to inform, rather than influence, the final decision – a move that has caused concern.
One museum professional, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “What’s the point of asking people to vote if the judges can ignore their views? This is clearly just a marketing ploy following criticism in previous years that the prize was not related to visitor feedback.”
In a statement, the Art Fund Prize said: “One criterion of the prize is that contenders should have clearly won the support and enthusiasm of their visitors and users.”
The Wedgwood Museum in Stoke-on-Trent (pictured) won the Art Fund Prize last year.
Click here to see the longlist for the Art Fund Prize 2010