We are now at the halfway point in the first-round voting period for the 64th annual Grammy Awards. Voting opened on Oct. 22 at 9 a.m. PT and closes Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. PT.
The Recording Academy made several enhancements to its online voting process, to improve the experience for its 12,000 voting members.
The Academy is adopting what it calls a “10-3” voting system. Besides the general voting field, which consists of the Big Four categories — album, record and song of the year, plus best new artist — voters may select up to 10 categories in up to three fields in which to vote. This tightened policy was designed to encourage voters to stick to the fields and categories in which they are most knowledgeable.
Through the voting portal, the Academy has increased the personalization of each user’s ballot. Voters can customize their ballot by clicking on the fields in which they choose to vote. That way, they can easily see and browse through the categories that are most relevant to them.
Voters’ ballots now offer a search box to find the field, artist or category they are interested in. Using the search tool, voting members can more easily maneuver through the 22,000 entries on the ballot.
The upgraded ballots offer more flexibility. Voters may select and de-select categories before they make their final submission. Voters are free to change their minds on which categories and fields they wish to vote in. The portal also allows users to save their selections, log out and continue at a different time.
This year’s ballot consists of 86 categories — two more than last year — spread over 25 fields. Voters are free to vote in any of the categories except for the six that are determined by special nominating committees — best remixed recording and best immersive audio album (which are both in the production field) and best recording package, best boxed or special limited edition package, best album notes and best historical album (which are all in the package, notes, and historical field).
Check out the explainer video below to see these changes in action.
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