The other two got slightly over 5,000 each.
Even if all 1.3 million votes from Hawaii were for here that still leaves her way ahead of the bottom two.
I doubt that. According to the San Bernardino County Sun, there was a BIG boost in calls in Hawaii:
One phone company's records might hold clues to why her weeping proved unwarranted.Of the 29 states in Verizon's local territory, only New York and California logged more calls on its network than Hawaii after the show, a Verizon spokesman said Thursday. California and New York are among the most populous states in the nation; Hawaii is among the least.
That, I think, shows what happened.
The viewers should be asked to vote for the singer they want to see GONE rather than the singer they want to stay. This would prevent the cults of personality voting, the statewide popular "daughter" votes, and the sympathy votes for poor singers when the voter thinks the better singers are "safe" because others will be voting for them. It is the latter that I think caused Jennifer Hudson's demise.
In other words, the audience could only vote AGAINST someone, not FOR someone. This would make for a much more honest vote.