10 Changes The Oscars Desperately Needs To Make
6. Stronger Encouragement For Voters To Only Vote In Categories They've Seen At Least Most Of The Nominees In
This one would be super difficult, but all it takes is a single glance at the anonymous Oscar voter ballots the trades release every awards season to see that this is a serious issue.
It’s simply not fair for a voter to vote in a category in which they have only seen one of the nominated films – for example in the lesser-explored categories like documentaries or animated films. There have been instances of voters not seeing any of the nominated films in a category but voting for one anyway because they “heard it was good.”
In an ideal world, the Academy would come up with a few possible solutions to this problem. It would be near impossible to enforce, but even simply having stronger vocal encouragement for voters not to vote in a category if they have not seen at least most of the nominated films would go a long way. Some voters are good sports and abstain from categories they have not seen enough from. Others are not.