The I-69ers

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The I-69ers is the unofficial name of the fan base involving the female moderators from the state of Indiana on American web site Vote for the Girls since its April 28, 2010.

The I-69ers currently have five moderators: Pink Team North moderator Alexandra Moffitt from Angola, Indiana, Pink Team East moderator Maribel Mort from Marion, Indiana (despite being born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and formerly lived in Fort Wayne), Pink Team South moderator Jenna Monroe from Evansville, Indiana, Purple Team North moderator and VFTG founder/webmaster Ava Zinn from Fort Wayne (though Zinn was born near Chicago, Illinois, grew up in Van Buren, attended Mississinewa High School in Gas City and forlerly lived in Marion) and Purple Team East moderator Karly Jameson from the state's capital and largest city of Indianapolis. In the fall of 2016, blue team villains Glenn Swaringen and Ted Shields (it is interesting to note that Swaringen and Sheilds were colleagues at WHOO Indianapolis while Shields co-anchored with Karly Jameson's mother from 1984 to 2015), joined the I-69ers.

In addition, Robyn Hurd, who had spent most of her career in Fort Wayne, Holly Everman from Muncie, Tracia Matthewson from Fort Wayne (although born in South Bend), and Leonard Lai, who was born in Evansville, were also part of the I-69ers. Hurd and Everman respectively served as an original I-69er (and original Vote for the Girls moderators) until Hurd and Everman's respective deaths on May 24, 2012 and May 23, 2017, while Matthewson served as an I-69er from January 2015 until May 2017 (Matthewson and Moffitt swapped anchor duties at NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations' flagship station and WTOR in Fort Wayne in 2017) and Lai was an original Zinn's Villain from January 2012 until his death in October 2015.


History[edit]

Ava Zinn, Holly Everman, and Robyn Hurd have had a close friendship since 1989. On January 4, 1989, the then-27 year old Robyn Hurd became the first friend of then-6 year old Ava Zinn. Everman became the second friend of Ava Zinn on December 28, 1990.

Early years[edit]

Rise of the Vote for the Girls[edit]

Moderator fan clubs[edit]

In 2014, many fans organized fan clubs for their favorite moderators. Some of these fan clubs included what was then-Ava & Holly's the Cat Pound (now Ava & Alexx's Cat Pound),[1] Karly's Klams, Big Ted-Glenn Ten (a parody of the Big Ten) ,[2] among others.

Today[edit]

Since the debut of Vote for the Girls, Zinn, Moffitt, Mort, Monroe, Jameson, Swaringen, and Shields, and previously Everman, Hurd, and Matthewson have enjoyed a large fan base in Indiana and Zinn has eclipsed Archibald Coolranch as the all-time winning moderator as of December 18, 2012. Of those seven, Zinn has become the winning moderator on twelve occasions (seven as a solo moderator and five with her then-girlfriend Kymberly Alvaraz), Mort (through inheritances from her mother and aunt) won on two occasions (her mother's pick of Melanie Amaro won the first season of The X Factor USA and her aunt's pick of Gaby Diaz won the twelfth season of So You Think You Can Dance), Jameson winning once on an imported victory from Romania, and Shields and Swaringen winning once (Swaringen became the winning villain on the twenty-fourth season of Dancing with the Stars and Shields became the winning villain on the twelfth season of The Voice). Moffitt and Monroe are currently the only moderators not to win thus far. Prior to Everman's May 2017 death, Everman had won on three occasions, and Matthewson is currently the only moderator not to win with Matthewson's best finish as moderator was third place on the fourteenth season of American Idol (Zinn's final pick, Nick Fradiani, was announced the winner and also Alvaraz's first win, though Matthewson's final pick, JAX, was declared the female winner).

While the site's success in Indiana gained it a large fan base nationally, many consider Ava Zinn auctioning off her virginity to Kymberly Alvaraz in 2014 as a threat if a female did not win American Idol's 13th season and eventually Christina Grimmie's third place finish to have been a cause for the strong fan base in other cities (especially in Denver, San Francisco, and Chicago, and Pittsburgh–the respective hometowns of Alvaraz, Everman's girlfriend Perri Johnson, and Karly Jameson's wife Kathi), and birthplace of Maribel Mort. Three instances of the site's fan base were during the sixth season as Zinn's pick Valerie Rockey from Indianapolis finished runner-up and losing to Leonard Lai's pick of Ricky Ubela, Kellie Rock's pick and York, Pennsylvania native DaNica Shirey was the last female on the seventh season of The Voice–Rockey and Shirey were recipients of the Moderators' Save (an element used to decline a "VFTG Loss"), and Littleton, Colorado native and runner-up of the twentieth season of Dancing with the Stars Riker Lynch was chosen by Zinn and Alvaraz.


Many regional communities not officially associated with the "Indianapolis" or "Fort Wayne" markets have overwhelming numbers of fans of Zinn, Moffitt, Mort, Jameson, Shields, and Swaringen who regularly flood local stations in Nashville, Tennessee [3] (of which Ava Zinn's longtime friend, Elaine Ellis, currently resides in Nashville); Louisville, Kentucky (home base of Purple Team South moderator Sonia Donbar); Lexington, Kentucky; [4] and Columbus, Ohio (home of Purple Team South moderator Donna Doogan) with requests to show the technically "out of market" supported contestants.[5]

Josh Kaufman's controversial victory on The Voice could also be seen as a sign of the national reach of Vote for the Girls' fan base as well.

Comparison to other Vote for the Girls fan bases[edit]

Criticism[edit]

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Anti–I-69er sentiment has grown strong enough that in some cases, other moderators and villains have taken steps to keep Indiana fans out of opposing moderators in their cities.[6] Instead of being permitted to buy support a contestant to a Donna & Tim/Kathi & Karly match in Jacksonville, for instance, they were required to pay for tickets to two other games (one in Jacksonville and one in Columbus, Ohio), as well.[7] In other cases such as fans of Addison Agen in October 2017, Ava Zinn refused to sell uncensored episodes to fans calling from outside Fort Wayne's 260 and Marion/Muncie's 765 area code, and they encouraged fans who were selling their own tickets to do the same.[6]

Famous fans[edit]

External links[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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Template:Ted Shields