Cirith's post pretty much sums it up. It's too bad that MJ took the bait and "disqualified" AoC, but then she is just a journalist and under no duty to be objective. (And even if she were, there's plenty of examples where cheating gets you excluded no matter its impact on the results, e.g. university exams.)
What is more disappointing is that all of the honest votes for AoC were for nought, due to the actions of one troll...