Voting for the 2009 ARIA Awards was conducted on a secure website between Wednesday 2 September and Friday 11 September. The voting website is designed and managed by Gruden Pty Ltd, and all votes are audited and accredited by BDO Kendalls.

ARIA members who submit recordings for consideration by the voting academy are required to supply audio, video and cover art in digital formats. This material is available on the judging website for review by the judges when casting their votes.

The winners in each award category are determined by a points system. Judges are required to select their top three choices in each category. Their first choice is awarded five points, their second choice three points, and their third choice one point. The winner is the entry with the most total points.

Voting commences when judges are emailed unique passwords to access the website. Judges are not required to complete their voting in the one session - they may review a few awards at a time and come back to complete their voting on another day. As the voting period draws to a close, judges who have yet to submit their votes are sent reminder emails and asked to confirm their votes before the deadline.

Once voting closed at 6pm on Friday 11 September, the judging website was blocked. At that time ARIA's official auditors, BDO Kendalls, moved in to tabulate and authenticate the votes over the weekend. The results are kept confidential until the final five nominees are announced on Thursday, October 8.