Who Really Picks Teen Choice Awards 2018 Winners? The Truth About Voting Rules

Teen Choice Awards viewers can rest assured their votes will count for this year’s show, if they followed the rules, that is.

For years, supporters of the fan-voted ceremony have questioned if their votes were correctly tabulated following earlier controversies. To ease viewer concerns ahead of the 2018 show airing Sunday night on Fox, let’s take a look at this year’s official voting rules.

The drama all started in 2014 when internet personality and then-nominee Cameron Dallas told his fans he was notified of his Choice Viner winner days before voting had ended.

The controversy continued when a post-show disclaimer revealed production company Teenasaurus Rox Inc. “had the right to determine the winners from the top four vote-getters of the nominees” and that the “ultimate choice was determined solely by the producers.”

Despite the reveal that producers had a final say in the winner list during at least one earlier broadcast, the 2018 guidelines reveal that the upcoming recipients are indeed picked by voters.

“Winners of Teen Choice 2018 are determined using the votes cast on the Site and on Twitter. Votes are tabulated electronically and winners are determined based on the nominees in each category with the highest number of eligible votes,” explains the official rules.

There is a slight catch, however. Fans who vote for their favored nominees on Twitter are subject to have their votes discounted if producers or Fox feel the tweets contained inappropriate “subject matter.” Tweets may have been voided if they contained sexually explicit, obscene, violent, discriminatory, offensive, or illegal references or language.

The rules also state that Twitter votes cannot contain third-party trademarks, logos, or slogans. Voters found to have tampered with or abused the voting process are also subject to disqualification. It is important to note that fans are also disallowed from voting for more than one nominee in a single tweet.

“Fox and/or Telescope reserves the right to disallow votes when, in its good faith judgment, such action is required to ensure fairness or for any other legitimate reason,” the rules state.

A majority of the 2018 Teen Choice Awards voting categories are now closed, but there are a few last-minute categories, including Choice Female Web Star, Choice Male Web Star, and Choice Fandom, still open. You can vote for those nominees here.

The 2018 Teen Choice Awards airs live on Fox on Sunday, Aug. 12 at 8 p.m. EDT.​