Unlike most of its peer institutions, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has never been very open about the rules and procedures used to nominate and induct artists. They won't reveal who is on the Nominating or Voting Committees, what the final tallies are, or even innocuous information such as how many votes are actually cast. It's left to outsiders to piece together the puzzle and trust the Rock Hall is actually running their induction process with some integrity.

Two years ago, Rock Hall CEO Greg Harris said in an interview that the fan votes "form two composite ballots that get tallied with the total." This was the first time there has been any reference to the fan vote counting anything more than a single ballot, and it was never clarified.

Here’s a long interview with Rock Hall Museum President Greg Harris where he addresses the issue of the number of women in the Hall of Fame. He also says that the Fan Vote is worth two ballots, which is contrary to what the Hall’s official line is. https://t.co/z5t7CnQ7bW pic.twitter.com/ZJ3G2OjKMI

— Future Rock Legends (@futurerocklgnds) February 9, 2020

On the most recent episode of the Who Cares About the Rock Hall? podcast, Rock Hall board member Alec Wightman was interviewed by hosts Joe Kwaczala and Kristen Studard. Wightman is in a unique position where he sits on the Boards of both the Rock Hall Foundation (in New York) and also the Rock Hall Museum (in Cleveland):

Joe: And you have a ballot…

Wightman: I do have a ballot. I have a ballot because of my membership on the Foundation Board, at least I think that's why I have a ballot.

Joe: Are we to assume that everybody on the Board has a ballot? I would imagine so.

Wightman: I'm sure everyone on the Foundation Board has a ballot.

Kristen: So everyone on the Foundation Board would have a ballot, but everyone on the Museum Board would not necessarily?

Wightman: Well, they would not in the ordinary course. Now having said that, a little bit like the Fan Vote, everybody on the Cleveland Board has an opportunity…

Kristen: To share one ballot?

Wightman: Yes [laughter]

Kristen: This is insane.

Wightman: So it's fun. Everybody gets a vote and the folks in Cleveland make sure we get updates from time to time about how our group is voting. It counts as one ballot towards the induction.

Kristen: That is way more weighted than the Fan Vote ballot, but that's still a raw deal.

Joe: Yeah, I think so too. I'd say let everybody on the Museum Board have a vote as well.

Needless to say, this rule about a second aggregated ballot isn't listed anywhere on the Rock Hall's website or openly discussed. The only hint prior to this explanation was Greg Harris's quote about the Fan Vote being worth two ballots.

There are roughly 86 members on the Museum's Board of Trustees that would get folded into a single ballot, as opposed to the five million fan votes that make up the other.

Here is the list of Rock Hall Board members as of 2019: