- In simple terms, they are voted upon by a body of their peers. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences uses what is known as proportional voting, or the preferential system, which is similar to the allocation of government seats in foreign senates and parliament. This system of voting is governed by the prestigious accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under this system, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sends out to its approximately 5,500 members, ballots for the February awards ceremony the previous December. This gives the voting body more than enough time to cast their ballots by the announcement in January.
- The concept of proportional voting is that the nominations represent an outcome with multiple potential winners. It is like winning in stages and then the finalist is chosen from the group of winners. In a proportional system individual members have much more of a chance to have an influence on the final outcome. Each member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is allowed to vote up to five times in their occupational category. For example, actors vote for actors, cinematographers for cinematographers and directors for directors. These five choices are listed in what is known as declining preference beginning with the first and ending with the last. These votes are counted according to the level of preference in order to determine the nomination in that particular category.
- Once the ballots are received by PricewaterhouseCoopers, they are manually tabulated. According to the accounting firm it takes approximately 1,700 man-hours to count and verify each ballot by hand. It breaks down to taking seven days to tabulate the nominee ballots and three days to tabulate the ballots for winners. Once this is completed, the announcement is made.
