And the ballots go to ... 5,810 Oscar voters

[January 29, 2009]  BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- The ballots are in the mail for the 5,810 members of Hollywood's elite who get to vote on the Academy Awards.

Wednesday's final ballots include nominees in 19 categories, among them best picture, director and the four acting prizes.

Ballots in five other categories -- feature-length and short documentaries, foreign-language film, animated shorts and live-action shorts -- are available only after academy members verify that they attended screenings of the nominees.

The deadline is Feb. 17 for Oscar voters to return ballots to the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The big show itself comes five days later.

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On the Net:

http://www.oscars.org/

[Associated Press]

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