As almost everyone in the Twin Cities knows by now, our newest hometown hero, Nicholas David—aka Nicholas “The Feelin” Mrozinski (as featured in the June 2009 issue of Mpls/St.Paul magazine)—is singing/fighting for his television life Monday night. But if we want him to win, there are a few peculiarities about the voting system employed by The Voice that everyone needs to be aware of:

First, you don’t get just one vote—you can, in theory, vote as many times as your willpower and ingenuity allow. Strictly speaking, The Voice allows you to vote 10 times for each artist, but there are multiple platforms—online via Facebook or several NBC affiliated Websites, toll-free via phone, toll-free via text, and through iTunes—and you’re allowed to use all of them, so 40 total votes are allowed. The only fee involved is through iTunes, where you “vote” by downloading that evening’s eligible song, and each download is considered a vote.

Where the rules get squishy—by which I mean, where the rules can be shamefully exploited—is in fine print regarding who constitutes a “voter.” In calling the toll-free 800 number, for instance, you are ten votes “PER ORIGINAL PHONE NUMBER”—which means that if you wanted to, you could round up the cellphone numbers of your kids and everyone on your block and boost your vote count into the hundreds.

It’s even easier online, because the only stipulation there is that you’re allowed ten votes “PER ORIGINAL EMAIL ADDRESS,” which means you could sit there all night (and trust me, people will do this) creating new gmail and yahoo accounts, voting ten times per email address. Since the voting window is almost twelve hours long—from 8:25 p.m. Monday evening to 9:00 a.m. Tuesday morning—a dedicated voter could, in theory, multiply their influence into the thousands.

Now, I’m not recommending that everyone do this: but we all have at least two or three email accounts. All I’m saying is: USE THEM, because that’s what the competition is doing. If you want to go above and beyond, that’s your business.

Another Important Point #1: Previously, the judges have had a 50% say in who wins, but in the finale, the whole enchilada is determined by “America’s vote”—that means all you people voting like crazy, as many times as your conscience allows.

Another Important Point #2: Nicholas is the old man in this competition (even though, as a commenter pointed out, Terry is actually older, and he too has a family), meaning fans of his are up against a bunch of younger voters who are quite adept with their phones. They like to use them—for everything—so if you don’t know how to use your phone yet, learn before 7 p.m. tonight.

Another Important Point #3: The one to beat in this competition is Terry, because he’s got the all-important teenage-girl vote sewed up. The accent. The dimples. The mop-top haircut. The guy is adorable, so girls all over the country are going to vote for him until their fingers bleed. Cassadee is young, hot, and talented, sure, but with any luck, teenage girls will end up hating her for it, mean-girl style. If not, she could be trouble.

Nicholas is the odd man out: He’s the hairy guy with a wife and kid, so his demographic appeal is a bit more mature. But he’s also the best singer—and isn’t that what this competition is all about?

Let’s hope so.

The Voice finale is a two-night affair: Tonight—Monday, Dec. 17, 7:00 p.m., and Tuesday, Dec. 18, 7:00 p.m. Monday is the big finale performance night, followed by voting. Tuesday night just stretches out the suspense until a winner is announced.

Those of you who want to know more about the intricacies of voting on The Voice, here’s the link: http://www.nbc.com/live-vote/the-voice/faq.shtml

Good luck, Nicholas! Show those kids how it’s done.