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Voting for the Oscars is going electronic for the first time in a move that will speed up the process and could give a boost to younger, edgier movies.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also announced that nominees for this year’s awards will be revealed on January 10 – five days earlier than had been announced and three days before the Golden Globes nominations.

In a transition process, the Academy’s 6,000 members will also be able to use traditional paper ballots to nominate and select the best actors, films, directors, screen writers and other winners of 2012.

In the past, Oscar ballots have been mailed around the world to Academy members and the results have been tabulated by hand by the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm.

Industry watchers said the move to electronic voting could be difficult for some Academy members, who have a reputation for being older and more conservative by nature.

“People love to conjure up the Academy as being made up of 90-year-old geezers who’ve never opened an e-mail before and think the internet is a passing fad,” said Tom O’Neil of awards website Goldderby.com.

“It could end up having a profound effect if there is a drop off on the older voters who are frustrated by the new system and pass on voting, leaving the younger voters to pick more hip choices.”

The Oscars will be handed out in Los Angeles in February.