If you’ve watched The Colbert Report over the last week, you probably know that the Hungarian government is conducting an online poll to name a national bridge. After the media picked up on the fact that Chuck Norris was leading by a significant margin, Stephen Colbert picked it up and asked fans to help him win the vote.

Over the course of the next week, his vote total went from less than 2000 votes to over 17 million, thanks, in part, to his computer savvy fanbase who developed a script to repeatedly submit votes. The discussion over on the discussion forums at Colbert Nation is a fascinating look at how easy it is to hack a website’s voting system with minimal effort.

I’m sure when the Hungarians set up the site, they never expected worldwide coverage and a lot of techies trying to game the system - especially when the poll is merely a “suggestion” for what the committee should name the bridge and there’s (probably) no way Colbert’s name will even be a consideration.

Still, it’s impressive the lengths some people will go to in order to follow through with a joke. Imagine if this was a legitimate contest or say, there was money involved. It makes you wonder how many other sites out there are vulnerable to part time hackers with free time on their hands.