I wish there were more ballots, but understand the reasons for the low number. less people are going to the movies, less theaters were showing the good stuff, and the release schedule was back-loaded.

look at December:

Shame
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
A Separation (February in most cities)
We Need to Talk About Kevin (March in most cities)
Young Adult
The Adventures of Tintin
Pariah

that onslaught forced short runs for November movies, and there were a lot of those as well (The Artist, The Muppets, Melancholia, Hugo, My Week with Marilyn, A Dangerous Method). worse still, even if you *wanted* to see a movie like Attack the Block in theaters, there was a likely chance it wouldn't be showing (Shame, Take Shelter, Attack the Block, The Trip and Certified Copy hit less than 100 theaters...that's anemic compared to even Winter's Bone or Blue Valentine from 2010).

additionally, tons of "award type" movies weren't released to DVD/Blu Ray until January or February, including Drive, Take Shelter, 50/50, Margin Call, Ides of March and Moneyball. Midnight in Paris opened at the start of summer and didn't hit Blu Ray until Christmas. Martha Marcy May Marlene, Hugo and all the November stuff still hasn't hit home release. and unless you're a cinephile, the typical voter would rent most of those aforementioned movies from RedBox but not pay $12 to see.

that said, a suggestion for next time:

I think listing the categories as separate posts under the main thread (a la the FYC thread) would encourage more voting. perhaps someone has five or six categories locked in, but are deciding about one or two -- they could go ahead and post the others without worrying about a recount edit. and it would encourage people to vote on just one category if that's all they felt strongly about.