Atlas / tournament documentation

Ballots

What a ballot contains, how the tab desk watches the queue, nudges judges, enters and corrects ballots, and what each state and message means.

A ballot is the judge's record of one round in one room: the winning side, the scores, a reason for the decision and comments to the speakers. Judges enter ballots from their own pages. The Ballots screen is where the tab desk watches them arrive, messages a judge who is late, enters a ballot on a judge's behalf from paper, and corrects a result that is already recorded. It is the fifth item in the left rail of the admin area, after Rounds, at /tournaments/{id}/admin/ballots, and it has two views, Queue and Disputes. Disputes are described in Disputes.

The older addresses /admin/results and /admin/disputes open the Queue and the Disputes views of this screen. A read only copy of a judge's ballot opens at /admin/results/view/{pairing id} from the View as judge button.

A room with one judge is decided by that judge's ballot. A room with a panel is decided by a strict majority of the whole panel, so two ballots decide a panel of three. A forfeit is a result in which a side did not debate, so the other side wins and no scores are recorded. A no-show is recorded the same way, as a forfeit by the side that did not appear.

Who can use it

Role	What it can do with ballots
Platform admin	Opens the queue, messages judges, enters and corrects ballots, views any judge's ballot, for any tournament.
Organization owner or admin	The same, for every tournament the organization hosts.
Tournament admin seat	The same.
Tab seat	The same. A tab seat enters and corrects ballots exactly as an admin seat does.
Compliance seat	Cannot open Ballots. The seat is read only, and every write here refuses it.
Judge	Enters, saves as a draft, and submits only the ballot for a room where the judge is seated, from the judge's own page. A judge can submit again, which replaces the earlier ballot.
Competitor	Cannot see this screen. A competitor reads a result and feedback on their own pages when the stored delivery value allows it.

A judge whose account is locked sees Your tournaments account is locked. Contact a tournament administrator for help. on submit.

What a ballot contains

The judge's ballot has four numbered parts. Setup, under Ballot, decides the scoring mode, the rank scale, the speaker point range, the instructions shown above the scores and the title of the reason for decision. The tab desk's sheet shows the same fields.

Part	What the judge enters	Rules
Decision	Which side won, shown as two large buttons with the side, the entry name and its rank or points.	Required. A win for the side with the lower rank or fewer points is allowed and shows a warning that asks the judge to say why in the reason for decision.
Speaker scores	In ranked mode, a rank for each side and speaker points for each side. In points mode, a score in each category for each speaker.	Ranks are whole numbers from 1 up to the rank scale, and never above the number of speakers in the room. Two sides cannot share a rank. A category score must fall between the category's minimum and maximum. The judge's rank form requires speaker points for both sides, from the event's range.
Reason for decision	Free text that both teams read.	Required. Its title comes from Setup and defaults to Reason for decision.
Comments to speakers	One comment for each speaker, private to that speaker. A team of two gets a box for each speaker, and a single competitor gets one box.	Required on the judge's form. Not required on the tab desk's sheet.
Forfeit or no-show	A disclosure folded under the scores with one choice for each side: that the side did not debate.	Choosing a side makes the other side the winner and clears the scores. On the judge's form nothing more is required. On the tab desk's sheet the reason for decision is still required.

The judge's own form messages are Enter a rank., A rank is a whole number., Ranks run from 1 to {n}., Each side needs its own rank., Enter a score., Scores run from {min} to {max}., Enter speaker points., Speaker points run from {min} to {max}., Explain your decision. Both teams read this. and Leave a comment for {speaker}. A judge can save a draft at any time. A draft is the judge's working copy and does not count as a ballot. A submitted ballot cannot be saved over as a draft.

A judge's page also carries a countdown to the end of the round, a print sheet with a signature line and the line Winning side with a box for Aff and Neg, and a form to ask the tab room for support. The print sheet carries a code that opens the ballot on a phone when Printing has that on.

Single judges and panels

One judge. The submitted ballot becomes the room's result at once, and the room reads Recorded.
A panel. Each seated judge submits a ballot of their own. The room is decided as soon as one side holds a strict majority of all the seats. Judges cannot see how the others voted. A panelist can submit after the majority is reached, and the ballot still counts.
The tab desk on a panel. A save from the desk decides the whole room and replaces the panel's majority. The panelists' own ballots stay on record. The desk labels this plainly in the authority banner and on the save button.

Queue states

Each room in the queue carries one state. The state is worked out from the room and the judge's draft, and it is shown as a coloured dot and a word.

State	Meaning	Dot
Bye	The room is a bye. No ballot is needed.	Hollow.
Recorded	The room is decided. For a panel, a majority is in or the desk decided it.	Accent colour.
Disputed	The room's status is disputed. The state exists in the queue, but filing a dispute does not set it.	Red.
Panel split	Some seats have voted for different sides and at least one seat is still out.	Red.
Panel short	Some seats have voted for the same side and at least one seat is still out.	Amber.
Scores dispute winner	In points mode, the judge's saved draft is complete and its category totals favour the side the judge did not mark as the winner.	Red.
In progress	The judge has saved a draft that is not submitted, whatever the wait.	Amber.
Overdue	No draft, and the room has waited 20 minutes or more.	Red.
Not started	No draft, and the room has waited less than 20 minutes.	Hollow.

A bye is a round in which an entry is not paired and receives a win, so the queue shows it as a row that reads BYE and no ballot. A bye is never nudged and cannot be opened.

How long a room has waited

The Waiting column counts whole minutes. A room that is not released, not yet needing a ballot, already decided, a bye or in dispute waits zero minutes and shows an empty cell. For any other room the wait is the shorter of two spans: the minutes since the round's scheduled end, and the minutes since the room last changed. A saved draft, a judge swap or a room move restarts the second span. A room with no scheduled round end counts from its last change.

A wait of 10 minutes or more shows an amber dot and 20 minutes or more shows a red dot. The round list on the left turns red when any room has waited 20 minutes.

The header and the round list

Control	What it does	Default or limit
All tournaments	Returns to the list of tournaments.	None.
Ballots	The page heading, followed by the tournament name.	Fixed.
Event tabs	One tab for each event. Selecting one shows that event's rounds and rooms.	The first event with a room still waiting, unless the address names one or a room.
Live pill	Reads Live, the round name and ends and the clock time.	Shown when the open round has an end time.
Print blank ballots	Opens the printing screen.	None.
Ballots by round	One row for each round of the open event, with a dot and the count recorded over total as N / M in.	Opens on the lowest round with a room still waiting, otherwise the latest round. The dot is accent when all rooms are in, red when a room has waited 20 minutes, amber when some are in, and hollow otherwise.
Select round	A drop down in place of the round list on a narrow screen.	None.
Disputes	Under the Review heading. Opens the Disputes view and shows the number open.	Counts disputes that are open or in progress.
Rules of the round	Rows named Window, Scoring, Categories or Ranks, Panels and Reveal. Window is the round's time. Scoring reads Category points per speaker or Judge-assigned ranks. Panels reads the largest panel in the round as N judges / room. Reveal reads Winner only, or Full with the winner and speaks.	Read only. These values are changed in Setup and on Rounds.
Standings, Audit log, Back to rounds	Open the standings screen, Records, and the Rounds screen.	None.

The queue

Control or column	What it does	Default or limit
Search the queue	Filters rooms as text is typed. Matches the room, either entry and the judge. The placeholder reads Room, competitor, or judge.	Not case sensitive.
All	Every room in the open round, byes included.	Selected by default.
Overdue	Rooms in the Overdue state.	None.
Not in	Rooms that are open: no result, not a bye, not disputed. Shown for a round with single judges.	None.
Panel incomplete	Rooms in a Panel split or Panel short state. Takes the place of Not in when any room has a panel.	None.
Recorded	Rooms that are decided.	None.
Nudge all overdue	Opens the message dialog for every overdue judge.	Disabled with no overdue room. The button shows how many.
Print unrecorded	Opens blank ballots for the rooms still out in this round.	Hidden on a wide screen while a room is open.
Rm	The room name. A room with no name reads Unassigned room.	Rooms sort in room order with numbers in order.
Matchup	The two entries separated by vs. A team shows its team name where it has one.	None.
Judge	The judge. A panel room shows the chair with a count such as 2 of 3 in, or decided at the tab desk. A room with no judge reads No judge.	Hidden while a room is open on a wide layout.
Waiting	The wait in minutes.	Empty when the room is not waiting.
Ballot	For a recorded room, the winner with won, then the ranks and speaks, or the points in points mode. Otherwise the state.	None.
Nudge	Messages the room's judge. After a send the button reads Nudged, or Not sent with the reason beside it.	Shown for open rooms only.
Open ballot, or Peek	Opens the room in the ballot pane. The button reads Open ballot for a room that is open and Peek for a room that is recorded.	None.

The queue opens on the room that has waited longest among rooms that are not decided. With a room open on a wide screen the queue narrows and drops the Judge and the last column. On a narrow screen the open ballot sits below the queue.

The status bar

Text or control	What it says	Default or limit
Round state sentence	Reads the round name is fully recorded, or N rooms overdue with N still out, or N ballots still out.	None.
Show me	Filters to the overdue rooms.	Shown when a room is overdue.
N / M recorded	Rooms decided over rooms that need a ballot.	Byes are left out.
N / M delivered	Of the recorded rooms, how many have every submitted ballot published to the competitors.	None.
Held note	Appears when recorded ballots are not delivered. It reads N ballots held until the next round is released, held until the tournament is complete, withdrawn because this tournament does not return ballots, or recorded but not delivered.	The first three follow the stored delivery value and show an amber dot. The last shows a red dot.
Recompute standings	Opens standings with a recompute request.	None.
Publish N results	Opens the Rounds screen for the round.	Enabled only when every room is recorded. It publishes nothing by itself. What competitors see is governed by the round's reveal setting and the standings publish rule.

Messaging a judge

A nudge is a short message sent to a judge's open ballot page for that room. The judge sees it on the ballot page as a message from the tab room. It is not an email and does not appear on judge home. It is also kept on the room's record.

Control	What it does	Default or limit
Message the judge, or Message N overdue judges	The dialog title. A single message names the judge, the room, the state and the wait.	Escape and a click outside close it.
Quick starts	Four buttons that fill the message: Ask them to submit, Offer paper entry, Ask if they are stuck, and Say the desk will enter it.	Shown for a single judge only.
Message	The text sent. Left empty, the default for the room's state is sent. An overdue room is told how many minutes past the round window it is. A draft is told it is saved and not submitted. A panel room is told the other seats are in. Otherwise the judge is told the room has finished.	Between 1 and 500 characters. For a group send, text typed here replaces each judge's own message.
Send message, or Send to N judges	Sends. The button reads Sending… while it works.	A group send reports Sent to X of Y judges, and lists each room that was not sent with the reason.
Cancel, or Close	Closes the dialog.	None.

A send can fail for a room with no judge. The reason then reads no judge is assigned. Beside the Message box the dialog tells how the last message went: Last message sent just now., Last message was not sent followed by the reason, or No message sent to this room yet.

The ballot pane and the tab desk

Selecting Open ballot or Peek opens the room's sheet beside the queue. The sheet is the judge's ballot, field for field. Around it the pane adds an authority banner, a reason box for a correction, a return to judge box, and a footer that lists what is still missing.

Control or text	What it does	Default or limit
Queue link	Reads the round name and queue. Closes the pane.	None.
View as judge	Opens the judge's ballot page for the room in read only form.	A page appears only when a draft or a result exists.
Message judge	Opens the message dialog for this room. Reads Nudged after a send, or Not sent, try again.	Shown for a room that is open.
Previous room, Next room	Steps through the round's rooms, byes left out, and shows N of M.	Wraps around.
Authority banner	Says what the save does. For a room still open, it says the director is filling in the judge's ballot, that the judge's draft is loaded or that the judge has entered nothing, and that the save takes precedence and is logged as a tab room entry. For a recorded room it says whose ballot it is, that any change overwrites it, re-runs the release check and is logged, and that both versions stay in the record. For a panel it says the save decides the room for the whole panel.	None.
Sheet	The decision, scores, forfeit disclosure, reason for decision and comments. A Swap order button appears for a team with two speakers.	A draft the judge saved loads into an open room.
Reason for change	A required box for a recorded room. Reads A result is already recorded. Saving overwrites the judge's ballot, re-runs the disaster check and notifies both schools. The original is retained. The placeholder reads What changed and why.	Required whenever the room already has a winner.
Return to judge	Opens a message box addressed to the judge and starts with the text Please complete the RFD and speaker comments, then submit. The round is held until this ballot is in.	Shown for an open room that has a judge. The sent box reads Sent to the judge.
Send to the judge	Sends the return message and keeps the room in the queue.	Disabled when the message is empty.
Still needed	The footer's list of what blocks the save: a count of scores, a speaker points range for each side, speaker points for both sides or neither, the decision, an RFD and a reason for the change.	Reads Ready to save when nothing is missing.
Save on the judge's first name behalf	Saves the ballot for the judge. On a panel the button reads Save the panel's decision. On a recorded room it reads Save the correction. It reads Saving… while it works.	Disabled while anything is still needed.

The sheet needs a reason for decision before the save is enabled, in every case including a forfeit. The tab desk does not need comments to speakers. In ranked mode the desk may leave speaker points empty for both sides, but entering one without the other is refused, and a value outside the event's range is refused.

A save writes the result through the same routine the judge's own submit uses, so a desk entry follows the same winner and rank rules. It records who entered the result and when, writes the change to Records with the reason, keeps the previous result in the room's edit history, runs the release check again for the round, and posts the result to any connected webhook. The reason box states that a correction notifies both schools.

Entering a ballot for a judge

The desk enters a ballot when a judge hands in paper, phones a result, cannot use the form, or when the room has no judge. The desk acts as an admin, so a room with no judge can still be given a result. The footer then reads Ready to save on the judge's behalf, using the judge's first name when there is one.

Correcting a recorded ballot

Open the recorded room, change any field, type the reason and save. The old result is kept, and Records holds both versions with the reason. After the save the queue banner reads Correction saved. The recorded ballot has been replaced and the change is in Records.

Forfeits and no-shows

Under the scores, open Forfeit or no-show and choose the side that did not debate. The button reads the entry name, did not debate, and the other entry's name followed by wins. The other side becomes the winner, the scores are cleared, and the sheet says Scores are not recorded for a forfeit. Only the winner and the RFD are kept. A recorded forfeit is shown in the Ballot column as a result followed by forfeit. Choosing the same side again clears the choice.

Panel rooms

A panel room shows a note above the scores that reads Panel of N and lists each seat, with the chair marked, as Aff, Neg or not in. The banner says whether the panel or the desk decided the room, and the split, for example 2 to 1, when the panel did. Saving from the desk replaces the majority for the whole panel.

Ballot delivery

Recorded and delivered are different. Recorded means the tab room has the result. Delivered means the competitors can read the ballot. A tournament wide delivery value has three settings: after each round, after the tournament, and never. A ballot is published when it is submitted if the round reveals that way, when the next round is released, or when the tournament completes. The status bar counts the difference. No control on Setup writes the delivery value, so the held note is worded for the stored value and reads recorded but not delivered when none is stored.

The read only view of a judge's ballot

View as judge opens the judge's own page in read only form. It shows the judge's saved draft while the ballot is a draft, and the recorded result once it is submitted. The page returns not found when the room has neither.

Control or text	What it does	Default or limit
Ballot, and the round and room chip	The heading, and a chip that names the round and the room.	Fixed.
Round ends in	A countdown to the round's scheduled end, with the clock time and zone. Turns red in the last five minutes.	Reads Round end not scheduled when the round has no end.
Print	Prints the page.	None.
Judge home	Returns to the queue.	None.
Save draft and Submit ballot	Both are disabled on this page.	None.
Footer	Reads Submitted. This is the ballot on record. for a submitted ballot, otherwise the list of what is still needed or Ready to submit. Under it, Submitted or Draft saved and how long ago.	Reads Nothing saved yet when neither exists.

For a panel room, the note above the scores is worded for the judge: Your ballot is one of N, the round goes to the majority, and the judge cannot see the others.

A round's reveal mode, set on Rounds, decides how much of a result competitors see: Full shows the winner and speaker points, and Winner only hides speaker points until the break.

Tasks

Find the rooms still out and message the late judges.

Open Ballots. Select the round in Ballots by round.
Select Overdue to list late rooms.
Select Nudge on one row, or Nudge all overdue for every late judge.
Choose a quick start or type a message, then select Send message, or Send to N judges.

Afterward each row reads Nudged, or Not sent with the reason, and a group send lists how many reached a judge.

Enter a paper ballot.

Open Ballots. Select Open ballot on the room.
Choose the winner. Fill in the scores, or open Forfeit or no-show when a side did not debate.
Type the reason for decision. Read the footer until it reads Ready to save on the judge's behalf.
Select the Save on the judge's behalf button.

Afterward the queue reads Ballot saved. The queue is ready for the next room., or Ballot saved. Every room in this round is recorded. when it was the last, and the room reads Recorded.

Correct a recorded ballot.

Open Ballots. Select Peek on the recorded room.
Change the field that is wrong.
Type what changed in Reason for change.
Select Save the correction.

Afterward the banner reads Correction saved. The recorded ballot has been replaced and the change is in Records.

Send a judge back to finish.

Open Ballots. Select Open ballot on a room with the judge's draft.
Select Return to judge, edit the message and select Send to the judge.

Afterward the button reads Sent to the judge and the room stays in the queue until the judge submits.

Troubleshooting

Message	What it means	What to do
`Give a reason for changing the recorded result. Records shows it beside the change.`	A recorded room was saved without a reason.	Fill in Reason for change.
`This result form is stale. Refresh the page before saving.`	The form lost its freshness stamp.	Reload the page.
`This result changed while you were editing. Refresh the page and review the newer result before saving.`	Another person or the judge changed the room after the pane opened.	Reload, read the newer result, then decide.
`This pairing is a bye and has no result to record.`	A save was made on a bye.	None.
`Pairing not found.`	The room is missing or belongs to another tournament.	Reload.
`This tournament is complete and its results are a record. Nothing on it can be changed.`	The tournament was finalized, so a ballot can no longer be entered or corrected.	None.
`Invalid forfeit selection.`	The forfeit side was not aff or neg.	Clear the choice and choose again.
`Select which side won the round.`	No winner was chosen.	Choose a winner.
`Could not compute a rank for both sides` followed by an instruction to check every field.	A rank is missing or the ranks cannot be read.	Give each side a rank.
`Score {category} for the affirmative's speaker 1.`	A category score is missing. The speaker and side change with the field.	Enter the score.
`{category} for the affirmative's speaker 1 must be between {min} and {max}.`	A category score is out of range.	Enter a score within the range.
`Aff: Speaker points must be between {min} and {max}.` and the same for Neg	Speaker points are outside the event's range.	Enter points within the range.
`Speaker points must be a number.`	The points box holds text.	Enter a number.
`Enter speaker points for both competitors, or leave both blank.`	Only one side has speaker points.	Fill both or clear both.
`Too many attempts. Please wait a while and try again.`	The signed in account entered ballots too fast.	Wait and try again.
`You do not have admin access to this tournament.`	The account has no admin or tab seat.	Ask a full admin for a seat.
`Could not check your admin access. Try again.`	The check could not run.	Try again.
`Whispers must be between 1 and 500 characters.`	A nudge or return message is empty or too long.	Edit the text.
`That pairing is not in this round.`	The message named a room outside the round.	Reload.
`That judge is not assigned to this pairing.`	The judge was moved off the room since the page loaded.	Reload, then message the current judge.
`This room has no judge to send a message to.`	Return to judge was used on a room with no judge.	Seat a judge on Rounds first.
`no judge is assigned`	A nudge was sent to a room with no judge. It appears beside the Not sent button.	Seat a judge.
`the message could not be sent`	The send failed.	Try again.
`Ballot saved. The queue is ready for the next room.`, `Ballot saved. Every room in this round is recorded.` and `Correction saved. The recorded ballot has been replaced and the change is in Records.`	Confirmations. A Dismiss button hides the banner, and moving to another room hides it too.	None.

Settings that affect this screen

Setting	Where it lives	Effect here
Scoring mode, rank scale, categories	Setup, Ballot	The sheet's score fields and the Rules rows.
Speaker point range	Setup, Ballot	The range for speaker points on the sheet and the save.
Instructions and reason for decision title	Setup, Ballot	The instructions above the scores and the title of the reason box.
Comments for each speaker	Setup, Ballot	The comment boxes on the sheet.
Judges may record a forfeit or no-show	Setup, Ballot	Saved and not read. The disclosure always appears.
Speaker comments	Setup, Ballot	Saved and not read. The comment boxes follow the number of speakers.
Ballot delivery	Stored tournament value with no control on Setup	The held note and the delivered count.
Reveal	Rounds, round settings	What a competitor sees of a recorded result.