This is an interesting point developing over the last several comments. The public declaration of the point allocations might be the problem. If the votes were kept as secret ballot regarding who voted for whomever, then an artist would not feel bad for voting for themselves, an option that should be available in any open ballot competition. But I assume that with the current public declaration system that no artist would vote for themselves for fear it would make them look tacky. Another way to think of it; if you submitted a scene and that of another artist and yours are only 2 or 3 points apart, you might be tempted not to vote at all rather than to give points to your competitors who might then overtake your own total. Voting would become somewhat counter-productive if one wants to win.

So there are two options. Either we keep the voting public and accept that artists may vote for themselves without judging them. Or, we establish some sort of secret ballot system. I am new around here so there is alot of history I am not clear on. Maybe secret ballots were already attempted and failed. I think that with secret ballots, all who enter are indeed encouraged to vote early, if for no other reason than to vote for themselves without any fear of being observed or judged. It might also ensure that votes are truly content driven and not popularity driven.