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We’ve got many, many questions about what all goes into the Academy Awards. Not least of which, how exactly does best picture get decided?

For the last 15 years, the 10,000-plus members of the Academy have cast their votes with what is known as the “preferential ballot.” The ranked voting system aims to level the playing field among best picture nominees, and tends to benefit movies that are crowd-pleasing rather than sharply polarizing.

So how does it work? And what could it mean for this year’s especially unpredictable best picture race? We break down everything we know about the Oscars’ most coveted prize:

What is the Academy Awards preferential ballot for best picture?

Most every Oscar category uses a straightforward voting system, where the nominee who gets the most votes is declared the winner. But it’s different for best picture, which uses what is called the “preferential ballot,” in which members rank the movies in order of preference. The goal is to ensure that the eventual best picture winner is the film that’s most widely liked by the entire Academy.

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The preferential system of voting was first utilized by the Academy from 1934 to 1945. It was reintroduced in 2009, when the Oscars expanded the best picture field from five to 10 nominees following outcry over the apparent snub of “The Dark Knight,” Christopher Nolan’s critically adored Batman blockbuster.

How does the Oscar preferential voting system work?

According to the Academy website, “Voting members rank the best picture nominees – 1 to 10 – from their favorite to their least favorite. The film that gets 50% or more of the votes is the winner. If one movie doesn’t get 50% out of the gate, the one with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the members who voted for that as their top choice have their votes added to the film that was next on their list.”

A bit confusing, huh? Well, say that you put “Barbie” as your No. 1 pick last year, but it received the fewest votes from the Academy as a whole. “Barbie” would get knocked out of best picture contention, and your vote would then go to your No. 2 selection, “The Holdovers.” The elimination and redistribution continues until at least 50% of the ballots have the same movie as their top choice (in last year’s case, “Oppenheimer”).

In other words, it actually behooves a film to be popular as a second- or third-place pick. That suggests it’s well-liked by a wide swath of Academy members, and will therefore perform well on a preferential ballot. “CODA,” for instance, was hardly a critical darling, but most people were generally moved by the feel-good family drama. That’s likely why it won best picture over the more divisive thriller “The Power of the Dog,” which could’ve easily gotten as many No. 1 votes as it did No. 10.

Do all Academy members vote for the best picture winner?

Yes. Although nominations are largely determined by individual branches – actors vote for acting categories, directors vote for best director, etc. – Oscar winners in all categories are voted on by the full Academy. Ballots are submitted entirely online, and Academy members are not required to see every best picture nominee before voting (but obviously, that’s encouraged). PricewaterhouseCoopers, an accounting firm, has been responsible for tallying all the Oscar votes since 1935.