Race on for 'Simpsons' movie premiere town

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., July 6 (UPI) -- If Bart Simpson and Milhouse search around an online voting site to find out where their Springfield is they might come up with Vermont, Illinois and Oregon.

The unofficial result is erroneous, says the keeper of the statistics at USA Today, sponsor of www.thesimpsons.usatoday.com site. Fourteen videos from various Springfields are competing for "The Simpsons Movie" premiere later this month, The Springfield (Ill.) State Journal-Register reported Friday.

The Springfield getting the most votes by midnight Monday wins.

Polling Thursday indicated a three-way race for the hometown premiere. However, the folks at USA Today weren't happy that tallies were published in the State Journal-Register and told the paper in an e-mail that the data was wrong. USA Today has modified the Web site so no one can see what percentage of the vote each Springfield has.

"The aim of the contest was not to show any results until the final winner was announced," wrote Alison Maxwell, the executive in charge of the online election. "Nobody else has been able to see them."

Unlike a presidential election, "This was meant to be a fun contest," she said.