"On the first ballot, Riverside received 3 votes, and the others received 4 or 5. None of them received more than 25% of the vote."
Yes, but it certainly has happened (many times) that a play or musical is just one or two votes short of a majority, and then they go to a weighted ballot. Since almost invariably in those circumstances, the show that came in just short of a majority will win on the weighted ballot, it seems a bit of a waste of time. And if it didn't win, that would seem a bit odd (unless the work in second place was just a vote behind).
And there have been weird decisions (or at least decisions that seem weird to me) over the years, such as the best play voting in 1970-71, when The House of Blue Leaves got six votes on the first ballot, and Home got four, yet Home won on the weighted ballot.
One thing that changed in the 1970s was the move to another weighted ballot with a restricted group of candidates if no play receives a certain number of points on the first weighted ballot. It used to be that a play or musical could win on the first weighted ballot if it was just one point ahead of what came in second. And that happened several times, with both best play and best American in 1971-72, for example.
In that year's best play voting, Sticks and Bones got eight votes on the first ballot, with That Championship three votes behind at five. Sticks and Bones was declared the winner at first after the weighted ballot because the votes had been tallied incorrectly. After a recount, it turned out that That Championship Season was one point ahead. Sticks and Bones got a special citation, which only seems fair, but to me still seems odd.
Also that year, Old Times came in second after The Screens on the weighted ballot for foreign play, although it beat it by one vote on the first ballot. Old Times was also voted a special citation.
I don't know why ties seem to be forbidden. If they weren't, then The Music Man and West Side Story would have tied in 1958, which would have reflected well on the Circle from the perspective of just a few years later.
Personally, I'd like to see them move to a system in which a play or musical wins on the first ballot if it gets at least a third of the vote or if it's a certain number of votes ahead of what comes in second place (a number that might vary from year to year, based on how many critics were voting that year).
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