This year, All-Star Voting will take place in two parts:
Fans can vote through Friday, June 21, for what was described as “The Primary” ballot. The top three vote-getters at each position, including nine total outfielders, will advance to a “Starters Election” ballot, with voting to begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 26, and wrap up 28 hours later at 3 p.m. Thursday, June 27. Starters will be announced that night.
For the primary ballot, voters can cast ballots at MLB.com, at team websites, via the MLB At Bat and MLB Ballpark mobile apps and via Google search, which provides links to a ballot at each position. Voters can cast five ballots in each 24-hour period on MLB platforms and can vote for up to 17 players each day via the Google search link.
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For the second phase of voting, totals will reset to zero for each finalist. Pitchers and reserves will be determined by a combination of players’ ballots and selections by the commissioner’s office and will be announced June 30.
I suspect this is designed to prevent ballot stuffing. So a particular group of fans could get a player to the final ballot, but the quicker second ballot might be tougher to game.
This also gives voters a chance to vote for a local favorite on the first ballot, then for whoever they think is the best player on the final run-off.
Of course, a lot of this could be done with rank voting, and either using the ranks as a Borda count or as an instant run-off. I’m not sure that what MLB instituted will result in better all-star teams.