Bucky's Buckle: a guide to voting for the 2008 CMT Music Awards...

Bucky Covington sings underneath the spotlights at Coyote Joe's in Charlotte, North Carolina on 11/23; photo by the very gracious Buckyroo. Thanks so much!

So the suspense of the last few days is over, Bucky Covington is a certified nominee for his first major country music trophy, and the 2008 CMT Music Awards voting has begun in earnest. How do we maximize our chances of moving Bucky up to the next round of competition?

Well, if there's one thing we're excellent at, it's voting. We've got a long, golden and justifiably stellar reputation for answering the call when it comes to dialing, mouse-clicking and making our voices heard. But the CMT Music Awards call for both our voting talents and another crucial skill. (Conveniently, it's the same skill Bucky's official fan club members are using to great effect to get the word out about "It's Good to be Us".) Since the CMT Music Awards only take one vote per registered member, we're going to have to reach out and recruit. It's as simple as that.

If you haven't voted yet, here's a quick how-to:

• First, if you're not already registered at CMT, go ahead and sign up--only registered users can vote for the Awards. The CMT Registration page will ask you to fill out a short form, and you'll get an email back with a link to click to confirm your registration.

• After you confirm your email address, make sure you're logged in at CMT and go to the main CMT Music Awards page and look for the dark red/brown "Vote Now" button at the bottom of the page, or hit the white "Vote" link in that navigation bar up top. Either one will take you to the main ballot page. When you get there, make sure to vote in all the categories you care about, because you'll only get this one chance--so you'll have to make it count.

After you've voted, it's time to get the word out to your friends, family, roommates, workmates, friendly strangers, distant pen pals--you get the drift:

• Family first--if you live in a house with one usually-logged-in CMT member and a lot of lurkers, it's time to declare some independence! Make sure everyone in your household is registered at CMT under their own personal name and email address, and ask them to vote for their favorites and for Bucky.

• Some of us have co-workers who know we're big Bucky Covington fans, and chances are they'll be glad to help. A quick email to your work buddies with a cut-and-paste of the CMT registration page link:

http://www.cmt.com/interact/my_account/join.jhtml

a link to the CMT Awards main page:

http://www.cmt.com/cmt-music-awards/index.jhtml

• ...and a friendly bribe like a Starbucks run or fresh donuts the next morning (optional but recommended!) should do the trick. Hey, enough of us are on those workplace "friendship rose" and "send this poem to six of your friends" forward-forward-forward email lists to have plenty of prospective new voters to contact.

• And if you're a shy one like me? Guess what--time to 'fess up to your fandom and let your friends and co-workers know that this is five minutes of their time that really means something to you. (You might even find out that you've been working next to a fellow Bucky Covington fan all along...)

• Friends are easier, of course--simply add those links and a quick note to your email signature for outgoing personal emails. ("Register at CMT and vote for Bucky" is short, sweet and to the point.) Your IM and MySpace friends need to know what's on your mind, too! A bulletin, a message, or a link to the CMT voting page as a comment are all excellent ways of making it easy for them to cast their votes.

• Use that same set of links (registration and ballot) as your signature for message boards, as well--both your favorite music boards and the boards you're part of that are "off topic." Sports, crafting, online auction discussions--wherever you're hanging out on your "off fan" time, chances are you've made 'net buds who'd be delighted to pitch in and help out.

• The very outgoing fans among us know who they are, and if you're one of them, you'll find that strangers might be quite happy to humor you and give Bucky a vote--especially ones you meet at live country music events. (They're probably already signed up at CMT!)

Feel free to add any and all suggestions into comments, and to repost this anywhere you think it might be helpful. Yep, we have a lot of stuff on our to-do lists--requesting, voting for "It's Good to Be Us", the official fan club activities, and more. But when it's all said and done, seeing Bucky at that podium in April with a huge smile on his face and that buckle from CMT in his hands will so be worth every bit of extra time and effort we're spending today. Keep that sweet vision in mind, and have fun!