The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (AMPAS) has decided to give voters another 24 hours to cast their votes, extending the deadline to Jan. 4 .The decision came after the online  users complained of technical snags due to which they couldn't cast their votes. Any ballots that are cast after the new deadline will not be considered.

"By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online balloting as smooth as possible," The Wrap quoted Ric Robertson, Academy COO. "We're grateful to our global membership for joining us in this process."

Earlier all the votes were cast through paper ballots in  polling stations in New York, Los Angeles and other centers. The online voting system was started just this year and the Academy has already received complaints of it being difficult to use and the registration is said to be a very lengthy process.

Numerous voters complained about the technical snag and the AMPAS even issued an apology, reports Deadline. It read, "Thank you for contacting us regarding electronic voting. I am sorry to hear that you encountered problems when logging in to vote. While there were a few minor issues that caused problems for a small group of members, those are now cleared up so you are free to log in and vote. I apologize that it occurred to you but rest assured that it wasn't system wide and everything has been cleared up. We hope that you are still looking forward to voting electronically this year and encourage you to do so at your convenience."

The votes will be tallied by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the  Academy will announce the nominations Jan. 10 and the 85th Annual Academy Awards are scheduled for Feb. 24.