Good morning, everyone! Today was supposed to be round two of our photo contest, but we’ve had a little interruption.

I host these seasonal contests because they are such fun to take part in, fun to see all your pictures, and a wonderful way for all of us to share highlights from each season. I love putting them together, and I know so many of you look forward to them as well.

That said, I also count on integrity and honesty to keep things fair. Unfortunately, I received a notification from the polling company that there were a disproportionate number of votes coming from a two different IP addresses. This compromised the fairness of the voting process. I have no idea who they are or if maybe there are bots involved. This is the first time this has happened.

Because of this, new safeguards have been put in place, and we’ll be redoing round one today. I believe this is the fairest way forward. Tomorrow we’ll continue with round two, and Friday we’ll hold the final showdown.

Thank you so much for your understanding—I wouldn’t feel right moving ahead with a contest that didn’t feel fair. Now…let’s try this again and make it fun for everyone!