The Oscars Use a More Fair Voting System Than Most of America Does

Since 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has used ranked-choice voting to select the Oscar winners in each category.

By Zaid Jilani

The 90th Academy Awards brings with it anticipation from movie fans about who will come out on top.

Will Best Picture go to “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” or “The Shape of Water?” Will comic genius Jordan Peele take home an Oscar on Sunday for his original screenplay for “Get Out,” or does that distinction belong to Kumail Nanjiani, who could be the first Pakistani-American to win in the category for co-writing “The Big Sick” with his wife Emily Gordon?

But to political science nerds — and really, anyone who wants to see a more fair and representative voting system — the system that produces these Oscar wins is just as interesting.

Since 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has used ranked-choice voting, or RCV, to select Oscar winners in each category.

Unlike traditional first-past-the-post voting systems — in which the candidate with the biggest number of votes takes home the gold — under RCV, voters rank candidates on their ballot instead of voting for just one. If no one gets a majority of votes in the first round, next-preference votes are counted until a candidate gets most of the votes.

What this means for the Oscars is that voters don’t have to worry about the immediate viability of their movie choices before offering them one of their votes. Let’s say you’re voting for Best Picture. Industry buzz has it that three films are considered the frontrunner for the spot this year: “The Shape of Water,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and “Get Out.”

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