Issues With Voting Push Back Oscar Nominations
by Shannon Keirnan
Technology might be here to make our lives easier, but now and then, it just messes things the heck up.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences now know that newer is not always better… the Academy set up a new voting system to allow Oscar nominee votes to be sent in electronically. However, some glitches have led to an extension of the voting deadline.
Traditionally the Academy has counted mailed-in votes, but for the upcoming 85th Annual Oscars, they tried to go another route. Issues with obtaining passwords and registering to vote meant that chaos ensued.
“Super Size Me” director Morgan Spurlock was one of the unfortunates who encountered difficulties.
"The password they sent didn't work for my log-in – and they couldn't email me a new log in, only snail mail," Spurlock complained over Twitter.
Luckily the Academy extended the voting deadline by 24 hours, hopefully allowing everyone an opportunity for all 5,700 members to send in their opinions.
"By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online balloting as smooth as possible. We're grateful to our global membership for joining us in this process,” said the Academy’s chief operating officer Ric Robertson in a statement.
Concern was also that some of the older members of the Academy might struggle to get their votes in, thus skewing the results of voting toward the opinions of the younger generation… but if 42-year-old Spurlock is struggling, it’s likely everyone is experiencing similar issues.
Nominations will be announced January 10th. The Oscars will show February 24th, and will be hosted by funny guy Seth MacFarlane.