Quoting%20commentary for Yoma 2:1

בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה כָּל מִי שֶׁרוֹצֶה לִתְרֹם אֶת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, תּוֹרֵם. וּבִזְמַן שֶׁהֵן מְרֻבִּין, רָצִין וְעוֹלִין בַּכֶּבֶשׁ, וְכָל הַקּוֹדֵם אֶת חֲבֵרוֹ בְאַרְבַּע אַמּוֹת זָכָה. וְאִם הָיוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם שָׁוִין, הַמְמֻנֶּה אוֹמֵר לָהֶם הַצְבִּיעוּ. וּמָה הֵן מוֹצִיאִין, אַחַת אוֹ שְׁתַּיִם, וְאֵין מוֹצִיאִין אֲגֻדָּל בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ:

In the beginning, whoever wished to remove the ashes from the altar did so. [Any priest from one patriarchal house who wished to remove the ashes in the morning did so, without a lottery.] And when they [those who wished to remove the ashes] were numerous, [one saying: "I shall do it"; the other: "I shall do it," this was the procedure:] they would run up the ramp [of the altar, which was thirty-two cubits long], and whoever was first to enter the four [upper] cubits [of the ramp, near the top of the altar], earned the right [to remove the ashes; this was their lot.] And if two reached it at the same time, [neither one of them was awarded the service, but all of the priests participated in a lottery. And what was the lottery?], the [lottery] superintendent said to them: "Put out your fingers!" [Each one would show his finger, it being forbidden to count Jews. Therefore, they had to put out their fingers, so that the fingers be counted and not the men. What was the procedure? They would stand around in a circle and the superintendent would come and take the turban from the head of one of them, the count beginning from him. Then everyone would put out his finger and the superintendent would call out a number — "one hundred" or "sixty" — much higher than the number of priests standing there, saying that whoever the count ended at would be awarded (the service). He would then start to count from the one whose turban he had taken and keep on counting fingers, going round and counting until the end. Whoever the count ended at would be the awardee. This was the procedure for all of the lotteries in the Temple.] And what would they put out? One or two (fingers), [one, if he were healthy; two, if he were ill (one who is ill not being in complete control of his fingers, so that when he puts out one, its "neighbor" joins it. The two fingers are counted as one.)] And a thumb is not put out in the Temple [because of the "deceivers." When the count was close to ending and they saw with whom it would end, the one standing in front of him would put out two fingers so that he would be counted twice and the count would end with him. And the superintendent would not be aware (of the deception), for one can move his thumb so far from his index finger, that they appear to be the fingers of two men, something that cannot be done with the other fingers.]

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