Oscar Voting Closes: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Anonymous Ballots in a Best Picture Race Between ‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘Sinners’

The final Oscar voting period has closed, and anyone telling you the race is over is lying.

The mystique of the Oscars depends on sealed envelopes and silent voters. Yet every season, the ballots speak. Anonymous Oscar ballots have become both a staple and a ritual of the awards season. At their best, they offer candid, unfiltered insight from the people voting on the industry’s top honors.

It is the good, the bad and the ugly of the Oscars, laid bare across 24 categories and centered on one irresistible question: What are voters actually thinking?

As Variety previously reported, this year’s digital Oscar ballot is synced to the Academy Screening Room, where members can watch nominees. Under a new rule, members must watch all nominees in a category before they can vote in it.