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So what happens if the Academy is too scared to cast Oscar ballots this year? It's not an entirely outlandish scenario, with the nominations less than two weeks away and reports screaming out of Hollywood that the awards' attempt at going digital may already be backfiring. Both the Hollywood Reporter and Deadline have semi-detailed accounts today of the surprising flaws within the Academy's new online voting system, and both conclude that it's so worried about hackers rigging the Oscars that it's become difficult for the (increasingly aging) members to pick their actual favorites.

The Academy enlisted Everyone Counts — an electronic voting company whose clients include the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.K.'s Ministry of Justice — back in January to help develop a secure system for voting online. Maybe too secure. Pete Hammond of Deadline writes that the system is "so loaded with specific safeguards and military-type encryption methods to keep hackers and imposters out that it is causing extreme frustration for some of those who have tried to vote." One member joked (we think) to The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg that "it's easier to break into the CIA." Everyone Counts, as a CNN article about online voting in political contests noted, "uses 'military-grade encryption' for its ballots, and can also provide a paper trail for clients who want it, [CEO Lori] Steele says."