--- title: In Praise of Revealing the Oscar Ballots description: An Oscar voter stoked controversy with her thoughts on Patricia Arquette and 'Selma' — and her candor is refreshing canonical: https://time.com/3713946/oscars-2015-ballots-revealed-voters/ author: Daniel D'Addario article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-18T20:38:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:40:52.180Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: In Praise of Revealing the Oscar Ballots og:description: An Oscar voter stoked controversy with her thoughts on Patricia Arquette and 'Selma' — and her candor is refreshing og:url: https://time.com/3713946/oscars-2015-ballots-revealed-voters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69d50def0d857d6c/69877f9e3c16390033451ce9/boyhood.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: MCDBOYH EC008 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: In Praise of Revealing the Oscar Ballots twitter:description: An Oscar voter stoked controversy with her thoughts on Patricia Arquette and 'Selma' — and her candor is refreshing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69d50def0d857d6c/69877f9e3c16390033451ce9/boyhood.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # All Oscar Ballots Should Be as Honest as This One > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: How Are Best Director and Best Picture Oscar Nominations Different? [Watch (HLS stream): How Are Best Director and Best Picture Oscar Nominations Different?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lvS576Qr.m3u8) (3:11)  _Published 2015-01-16. When Oscar nominations are announced, people are often confused by the differences between Best Director and Best Picture. TIME culture writer Daniel D'Addario explains_  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Feb 18, 2015 8:38 PM UTC  Patricia Arquette in Boyhood Patricia Arquette in BoyhoodIFC Films  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Feb 18, 2015 8:38 PM UTC It’s become something of an annual tradition for media outlets to publish the ballots of anonymous Oscar voters. _The Hollywood Reporter_, in particular, has made a trollish art of it, selecting ballots that seem tailor-made to anger people who’ve spent months thinking seriously about the films nominated for awards. Today, for instance, the magazine published [the ballot](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/brutally-honest-oscar-ballot-2015-773902) of an anonymous Oscar voter, in the public relations branch of the Academy, who declared that the widely-perceived snubs for _Selma_ were right as the film lacked “art” and its cast were “stirring up s–t” with their real-life [social-justice activism](http://www.ew.com/article/2014/12/15/selma-premiere-i-cant-breathe). This voter also said Patricia Arquette should win the Best Supporting Actress trophy for never having had plastic surgery: “It’s a bravery reward.” This ballot was provocative and at times borderline offensive. But it also serves as a brilliant reminder that the Oscars are voted on by real people. The only thing wrong with it is that there isn’t an equivalent one for each member of the Academy. People tend to speak of “the Academy” as though it has a single mind and set of opinions. But winners are chosen by consensus, and a narrow one at that: In all but the Best Picture category, all a nominee needs is 21 percent of the vote to win. Accordingly, individual quirks and peccadilloes become incredibly important, and incredibly hard to predict. Michael Keaton got _The Hollywood Reporter_ voter’s endorsement because “he seems like a completely sane person” and “he seems grateful, not particularly needy.” The performance doesn’t enter into it, really. This is the sort of thing entertainment reporters, and the Oscars ceremony itself, are too polite or movie-mad to acknowledge: Most voters aren’t film scholars, but workaday professionals who bring to bear their own prejudices onto the ballot. Those prejudices include this voter’s treatment of _Selma_, a movie around which controversy has largely been cloaked in concern for the legacy of Lyndon Johnson. Those who have dismissed the movie have done so out of carefully constructed arguments around historical veracity, not just because they didn’t like it. No matter what one thinks of _Selma_, it’s actually refreshing to hear one of its detractors speak forthrightly to better understand in clear terms the systemic obstacles a movie like this faced at the Oscars. The Oscar voter in this case denies that any racial impetus went into the nomination voting, claiming that members of the Academy don’t think along racial lines because they’re not “the cast of _Deliverance_,” and then stating that actors taking part in protests about recent police action in New York is “offensive.” It’s this visceral manner of speech, not a series of historical claims and counterclaims, that will help us understand what, exactly, happened to _Selma._ If Arquette wins, it’s at least one vote’s worth due to her “bravery” in aging, for all the performance is supposed to count. When it comes to Oscar ballots getting revealed, it’s always like this, likely because the most serious Oscar voters tend to keep their votes to themselves. Last year, [a voter told ](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-voter-reveals-brutally-honest-682957)[_THR_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-voter-reveals-brutally-honest-682957)that he didn’t vote for Lupita Nyong’o because “a lot of the commotion over her is attributable to people’s tremendous empathy with and sympathy for the role she’s playing.” Voters are entitled to vote however they want and for whatever they want, but the remark was so diminishing of Nyongo’s work as to make clear both the challenges the actress had to overcome to win the award and the mindset of Oscar voters, generally. The Oscars don’t emerge from on high to anoint whomever is empirically the most deserving. They end up in the hands of whomever pleased the most or annoyed the fewest people, people whose applause at the ceremony is far less interesting and revelatory than their back-channel chatter. The Oscar ceremony itself will never grow any more transparent than it is, given the producers’ interest in maintaining the awards’ mystique. But cheers to the secret ballot revealers for chipping away at the pomp and circumstance just a little. ### 19 Classic Hollywood Actors and Actresses Who Never Won an Oscar  Natalie Wood, who received three nominations. Pictured at the Cannes FIlm Festival, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Steve McQueen, who was nominated once. Pictured here during motorcycle racing across the Mojave Desert, 1963. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Rita Hayworth, who was never nominated. Pictured in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jayne Mansfield, who was never nominated, though she once played violin in an orchestra performance at the Oscars. Pictured here posing with shapely hot water bottle likenesses floating around her in her pool, 1957. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Richard Burton, who was nominated seven times. Pictured relaxing with a book in Cantina while on location filming The Night of the Iguana, 1963. Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Erroll Flynn, who was never nominated. Pictured aboard his yacht Sirocco, 1941. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Lena Horne, who was never nominated, though she was honored with a tribute at the 2011 Academy Awards. Pictured In Paris, 1947. Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Novak, who was never nominated, though she presented at the 2014 awards. Pictured performing the hoochie-coochie dance in the movie Jeanne Eagels, 1957. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Tony Curtis, who was nominated once. Pictured with his Rolls Royce, 1961. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Montgomery Clift, who was nominated four times. Pictired in Red River, 1948. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Lana Turner, who was nominated once. Pictured here with John Garfield on Laguna Beach in a scene from The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1945. Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Dorothy Dandridge, who was nominated once, becoming the first African-American to be nominated for a leading role (1955). Pictured posing in costume for Tarzan's Peril, 1951. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who was never nominated. Pictured in Sinbad, 1946. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Peter Sellers, who was nominated three times. Pictured playing the piano at home with his wife, Britt Ekland, in Beverly Hills, 1964. Allan Grant—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Marlene Dietrich, who was nominated once. Pictured in evening dress and hat during Pierre Ball, 1928. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Ava Gardner, who was nominated once. Pictured in One Touch of Venus, 1948. J. R. Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Janet Leigh, who was nominated once. Pictured posing in costume for Jet Pilot, 1950. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Robert Walker, who was never nominated. Pictured riding a tricycle with his two sons, 1943. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Van Johnson, who was never nominated. Pictured duck hunting in a scene from the movie Early to Bed, 1945. 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