Aurora Awards

Voting Method: Alternate Ballot System or Instant Runoff Ballot

Our ballot system is the same one that the WorldCon uses for the Hugo Awards. The following is the description they provide to explain how to vote and what happens when your vote is counted.

How to Vote:

To vote, mark your choices in each category in order of preference: “1” for first place, “2” for second place, and so on. You are not required to rank all the nominees in any category, and we recommend that you not vote in any category in which you are not familiar with a majority of the nominees. Leave any unranked nominee blank. Note that “No Award” is not an abstention, but a vote that none of the nominees should receive the award.

How The Votes Are Counted:

All nominees ranked “1” are counted. If any receive at least 50% of the vote, that nominee wins. If not, the nominee with the fewest “1” votes is eliminated, and its votes are transferred to the nominees marked “2” on those ballots. This process of elimination continues until one nominee receives at least 50% of the votes and becomes the winner. If “No Award” wins then no award is given in this category.

Detailed definition from the Hugo website

How to Vote:

This ballot uses a modified version of the Alternate Vote System, sometimes known as the Instant Runoff Ballot. To vote, mark your choices in each category in order of preference: “1” for first place, “2” for second place, and so on. You are not required to rank all the nominees in any category, and we recommend that you not vote in any category in which you are not familiar with a majority of the nominees. If you decide not to vote in a given category, leave it blank. Note that “No Award” is not an abstention, but a vote that none of the nominees should be given the award in question. When the ballots are counted, all the first place votes will be tabulated. If no nominee receives half or more of the votes, the nominee with the fewest first place votes is eliminated, and its votes are transferred to the nominees marked “2” on those ballots. This process of elimination continues until one nominee receives half or more of the votes, at which point it becomes the winner. If the votes are outnumbered by “No Award” then no award will be given out in this category.

A few tips which may help you in voting:

1. Please keep in mind that second and further preferences play no part in the voting unless and until your first choice is eliminated. This is not a point system where the second choices of many voters can overwhelm the first choice of a few voters. We suggest that after marking your first choice, you proceed by imagining that it has disappeared from the ballot, and placing your “2” by the remaining nominee you most prefer, and so on. This mimics the way the ballots are actually counted. Thus, even if your heart is set on one nominee, don’t hesitate to give “2” (and other) rankings to other nominees you also consider worthy of the award.

2. Nevertheless, if your top choices are eliminated early, your lower preferences could be the tie-breaker between the remaining nominees, so choose all your preferences carefully! No matter how much you dislike a nominee, if you rank it, the vote will be counted if all of your previous choices are eliminated. We recommend that you rank a nominee that you do not consider worthy of the award below “No Award” if you rank it at all.