# DWTS premiere hit by voting glitch

> Season 35 opened with online voting down, text votes counting, and two Connors making instructions extra messy.
- Title: DWTS premiere hit by voting glitch · Variety | Shortify
- Summary: Season 35 opened with online voting down, text votes counting, and two Connors making instructions extra messy. For premiere night, only text votes counted…
- Keywords: dancing with the stars, season 35, voting glitch, online voting, text voting, julianne hough, alfonso ribeiro, conner leavitt, connor wood, season premiere, abc, entertainment
- Source: Variety — https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/dancing-with-the-stars-voting-glitch-season-35-premiere-1236863608
- Author: Emily Longeretta
- Published: 2026-09-16T01:01:38+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: dancing with the stars, season 35, voting glitch, online voting, text voting, julianne hough, alfonso ribeiro, conner leavitt, connor wood, season premiere, abc, entertainment
## Premiere night snag
Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars opened Sept. 15 with a voting problem almost as soon as the competition began.

> “Dancing With the Stars” may have had too many voters than it could handle.
## Online voting went down
After the second dance, hosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro told viewers the online voting system was down.

> online voting is down
## Text votes only
The show switched the first night to text voting, making phone-in support the only valid way for audiences to vote.

> audiences could only vote via text
## Online votes tossed
After the third number, the hosts said any online votes that had gone through would not count for premiere night.

> all online votes that did go through would be thrown out
## Two Connors complicated it
Viewers also had to distinguish between Conner Leavitt and Connor Wood by texting Conner L or Connor W.

> there are two different Connor/ers in this competition
## Key takeaway

For premiere night, only text votes counted after DWTS scrapped online votes because of a voting glitch.