Keith,
Since the OTY is a subjective award, pertaining to artistic appeal your examples of voting don't really apply to this situation IMHO. As you stated there probably was a myriad of reasons why that chip was voted #1 vs the others. (I nominated two of the Palms chips that made it to the top ten, so I guess I helped "dilute" the vote). As a participant in the OTY judging I based my opinion on artistic appeal in all the catagories, not on the casino where they came from. In 2005 I think the HR $5 and $25 Coop chips will be in contention for COTY will they cancel out each other???? only time will tell.