How are the winners of the Freddies determined?

Each person who votes for the Freddies is also asked to rate their choice from 1-10. This allows travelers to not only choose the best program in nine different categories, but also rate their choices with 10 equating the highest score possible. Freddie winners are then chosen from those who score the highest average in delivering membership benefits and value. This is a change from the popular vote, which was used, in the first nine years of the presentation of the Freddie Awards. With the return of Value Voting, this year's voting will once again focus on quality and not quantity. How many votes a program receives does not matter, but the overall merits of what each program has to offer will determine the winners.

Statistics

26% of voters had voted in previous Freddie Awards
Votes cast for the Americas Freddies: 169,231
Votes cast for the International Freddies: 52,653
Total votes cast: 221,884 accounting for 3,128,564 individual choices
100% of the votes were cast via the Internet
18,419 suspect ballots were eliminated from voting
Ballots were subject to four audits before results were finalized

I think the tone of the multiple threads regarding process here is really much too accusatory. Several of us here have market research backgrounds and have commented in previous years that the instrument design leaves a lot to be desired. That being said, that comment is a far stretch from suggesting fraud. I think rather than fraud or intentional manipulation, it's more likely a case of inexperience in methodology and perhaps analysis limitation, given the confusing and limiting instrument design.

So while those of us experienced in this business might do it entirely differently, there is complete merit in the statement that if we don't like it, we should ignore it or move on. None of us were, after all, asked for professional input.

I don't dispute your right or instinct to question the methodology - I do dispute the necessity for the tone of the question.