Mike Fleming

UPDATE: I got an explanation on the temporary glitch in online voting from Michael Shamberg, the Django Unchained producer who’s a long time Academy member and who encountered some problems but came away satisfied that the new system will work. Said Shamberg: “I had a good experience with the online voting. Even though I had a technical problem, the Academy tech support called me hourly until it was fixed. There are multiple levels of security that are designed to keep it from being hacked and they got the bugs out right away.”

EARLIER: Monday was the first day that the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its new electronic voting system for the Oscars, and today didn’t exactly go off without a hitch. I figured the big problem would be getting older voters (some are over 100) to warm up to using the world wide web. But the big problem today occurred when the system temporarily went on the fritz and voters couldn’t log in. I’m not sure if there was an avalanche of attempts to vote, but I’m told that the system wasn’t working for much of the day today, one frustrated Academy member told me. The member added that the support center, whose number was included with the ballot instructions, wasn’t sure when things would be back online. That finally happened about two hours ago, when this memo was sent out:

Thank you for contacting us regarding electronic voting. I am sorry to hear that you encountered problems when logging in to vote. While there were a few minor issues that caused problems for a small group of members, those are now cleared up so you are free to log in and vote.

I apologize that it occurred to you but rest assured that it wasn’t system wide and everything has been cleared up. We hope that you are still looking forward to voting electronically this year and encourage you to do so at your convenience.

If you have any issues, please do not hesitate to contact the Support Call Center at 1-800-xxx-xxxx.

Have a great day.

Voting for the 85th Academy Awards nominations opened yesterday at 8 AM PT and runs through the paper and electronic ballot deadline January 3 at 5 PM PT. Noms will be announced January 10.

Related: Academy Shifts Voting Plan Ahead Of Paper Ballot Registration Deadline