112 Heisman Voters Are In Danger Of Losing Their Vote
The Heisman Trust is fighting back against websites that project the Heisman Trophy winner by collecting the votes of media members that reveal their Heisman choice publicly. Much like exit polling in political elections, websites have been able to accurately project the winner of college football's biggest award for several years.
The biggest website that does this is StiffArmTrophy.com, which has correctly picked every winner since 2002. On the eve of this year's presentation, StiffArmTrophy.com has collected 112 of a possible 928 ballots and is projecting Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston will win in a landslide.
This year's collection of 112 ballots is about half of what StiffArmTrophy.com collected in an average year (212) and well-below the biggest year, 2009, when the race was tight and the website was able to collect 313 ballots.
So the Trust's threats are working. But that is still 112 voters that went against the Heisman Trust's demand that votes remain secret.
At least one media member has already lost his vote. Mike Imrem of the The Daily-Herald writes that he was asked this year not to reveal his vote as he had in past years. When he refused, he never received a ballot.
Will the Heisman Trust have the guts to take away the votes of the 112 voters that revealed their votes this year? If they do, they are in danger of biting the very hands that promote the award year-round and the reputation of the award could suffer.