Aurora Awards Voting Method

We use the Ranking voting system, also known as Alternate Voting or Instant Runoff.  You rank your votes from top (1) to bottom (5 or higher depending on the number of works.)  Each work is given a unique ranking.  Not all works need to be ranked.

How to Vote:

Our voting page uses “Drag and Drop”.  Move your top choice (1) by dragging it to the top of the category, either with a mouse or your finger (for touch screens).  Continue to move works into the order you wish them to be ranked.  Move items you wish to vote for above voting line.  This will be clear when you see the page. You do not have to rank all nominees.  Rank only those works that you are familiar with.  You can move works back below the voting line if you make a mistake.

The “No Award” option is NOT to be used if you are abstaining from a category.  It is only to be used if you feel that works do not deserve to be on the ballot.  If you don’t know about a category or its works, then do not rank anything.

How The Votes Are Counted:

All nominees ranked “1” are counted first.  If a nominee receives at least 50% of the vote, then that nominee wins.  If not, the nominee with the fewest “1” votes is eliminated.  For those voters, their second choice becomes their new first choice, and we recalculate the number of updated first place votes.  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 that category.

Special Voting Rules:

After the votes are counted, we do a special runoff test to confirm a winner.  The winning work is tested against the “No Award” option and must receive over 50% of those votes.  If a category was voted on by less than 25% of the CSFFA membership who voted, a review will be initiated by the CSFFA board to determine if that category is still viable.

A few tips which may help you in voting:

1.  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 points 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 move your next choice into the spot below your first choice.  Continue this way until you have nominated all the works you are familiar with.  Even if your heart is set on one nominee, don’t hesitate to rank other works.

2. 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!  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.