Forget my sour grapes about the Palms Hart & Huntington $25 losing this year...

If you look at it outside of the box (of how you yourself vote), people vote with myriad motivations; just because you say the best chip will win - is ignoring this fact. To try to make this effect more obvious, consider a Presidential Primary - multiple people from the same region always hurt each-other by drawing regional votes from each other (eg. 2 candidates from the South, will hurt each other vs. national competition from other areas). In such a Primary, extreme effort will be made to eliminate the other Region contender EARLY, to salvage the prospect of one from the Region advancing in the Primaries... Indeed, "back room deals", and "deals made in smoke-filled rooms" are frequently geared to removing this very obstacle, with the goal of putting forward the strongest candidate while eliminating the thorn of another regional opponent.

Another example: consider a "best tractor" contest, run by a national farmer trade association. If there are 7 separate entries from different companies, and then 3 more from the same company - those 3 will do themselves a huge disservice by canibalizing their chances of one of them winning the entire contest.

Now, consider our OTY votes; it is fine to say that you only vote for the best chip - but many considerations go into everyones vote, and it is naive to think everybody approaches a vote exactly as you do. Since different members collect different chips, it only makes sense that they will bring different criteria to the voting booth. If you truly want the fairest vote, I strongly encourage a run-off to eliminate multiple entries from the same Property - this is the best guarantee of a fair vote IMHO. MAY THE BEST CHIP WIN!