747 wins Fat Bear Week contest despite ballot-stuffing turbulence

A hugely popular web poll to find the fattest bear in an Alaskan national park has become the target of rampant ballot stuffing, according to organizers, but in the end a champion has been crowned.  

With the country's political class obsessing over election integrity, the annual Fat Bear Week poll seemed like the perfect example of a free and fair ballot.

But even this model of democratic probity appeared to have been sullied after a spam campaign to elevate Bear 435 over Bear 747, in a crucial semifinal head-to-head to determine which creature had piled on the most pounds.