Fantasia Barrino wins American Idol contest

NEW YORK (Fox Idol Official Website) - A record number of phone votes were cast during the election of American Idol number three - Fantasia Barrino - on Wednesday night.

Barrino, a 19-year-old single mother from High Point beat Dianna DeGarmo, an effervescent 16-year-old from Snellville after 65 million votes were tallied in the final week of the reality TV show. "Thank you so much!" Fantasia Barrino sobbed when she won. "I broke my shoe!! I always say I've been through some things but I worked hard to get where I'm at," she said. "Thank you, God, so much. Man, I'm a crybaby!"
Closing the night, Ms. Barrino belted out, through tears, "I Believe," a hokey inspirational ballad written by a former "Idol" contestant, Tamyra Gray.

"American Idol," which attracted 25.8 million viewers on average this season, managed to score a full 65 million call-in or text-in votes. In another twist on standard-issue American democracy, "American Idol" voters can cast as many votes as they want. Maybe we'd better leave things the way they are!