Michael Moore’s provocative, election-season documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 has been nominated by the People’s Choice Awards as the American public’s “Favorite Film of the Year.” The five nominees for best film–also, Spiderman 2, The Incredibles, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Shrek 2–were chosen from a poll of thousands of Americans in mid-to-late November. This year marks the first time ever that a doc has been nominated in the category.

The People’s Choice Awards are considered, among all the awards shows, to be the one which most accurately reflects mainstream public opinion in the United States, so it would be a big deal–at least on the culture front–for an avowedly left-wing film to win the contest. It would also help continue to establish political documentaries as commercially-viable products, which makes it much easier for small, independent films to find funding sources and distribution outlets.

And, in an age of ever-increasing media conglomeration, independent film is now filing a more vital niche than ever with films like Morgan Spurlock’s SuperSize Me, Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott’s The Corporation and Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein’s The Take sparking, connecting with and contributing to grassroots movements for change.

As Moore says in an open letter asking the public to participate in the online voting which will determine the winner, the fact that a film about “Iraq, Bush, terror and fear” continues to resonate throughout the country shows that “the election has not altered or made irrelevant, unfortunately, a single one of these issues.”

So click here to cast your ballot today. Voting continues only through this coming Monday, December 13, at 3:00pm EST, so send an email to your friends and encourage them to vote too. The winners will accept their awards live on CBS on January 9.