Negative votes is a very BAD idea! If they used this system of voting, all the Ruben fans would have voted Clay and all the Clay fans would have voted Ruben last year, to get the tough competition out of the way. I wouldn't have cared how bad all the rest of the people were, I along with many other people would have definitely voted to get Ruben off, because I knew he was one of the favorites to win and I really wanted to see Clay become the American Idol. Then Clay and Ruben would have been gone very early in the competition and we would have been left with someone who wasn't very good. And anyway, isn't it more important to see who's the most popular with the viewers? The one who is the most popular will get the record company the most money, and that's what they want!