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Climb the Mountain Speech
& Debate Foundation Climb the Mountain
provides support for coaches, students, and judges to build a bigger and even
better speech and debate community. |
Judging
Policy Debate Step 3:
How should I decide which team won the debate? MAKE A
DECISION. Write The Winning Side On The Ballot (Affirmative Or Negative). Then Submit Your Ballot to the ballot table or over email. HOW SHOULD I MAKE A
DECISION? List out the
good and the bad of the affirmative advocacy. USE THE NOTES YOU TAKE DURING
THE DEBATE TO HELP. Example: Carbon tax will reduce global
climate change (good). Carbon tax will
harm the economy (bad). Then, consider
which arguments were most persuasive to you. If the debaters provided a way
to evaluate which are the most persuasive arguments, use those ways! In Policy
debate, this is usually done through impacts—showing why you should vote for
the biggest, worst consequence or the most important imperative. If the
debaters’ arguments show a way to judge the debate, then use that way. Some additional
considerations for making your decision: Does the affirmative advocacy
support the resolution? If not, their case may not be relevant and may not be
fair for the negative to be prepared to respond against (remembering to give
the affirmative a chance to respond). Did either side make an argument that
was abusive to the other side—should you reject that abusive argument or perhaps,
should you reject the entire case/debater for making that abusive argument? Any
other issues that would lead you to reject the affirmative or the negative debater’s
advocacy? WHEN YOU WRITE YOUR
DECISION Almost always—write out your decision AFTER
you turn in your ballot—so the tournament stays on schedule. The only
exception is if you need to write it out to make sure you are making the
right decision. Explain in, at
least, a paragraph, which issues convinced you to vote the way that you did.
If you need more room, ask the ballot table for an additional ballot. ·
Explain your
decision. USE COMPLETE, CLEAR SENTENCES.
"I voted affirmative because they showed peacekeeping would . . ." ·
Explain why you
did not vote for the arguments of the losing team. Try to point to arguments
that the winning team made that convinced you against these arguments. "The negative arguments about
peacekeepers failing ignored the three affirmative studies showing
improvements." ·
Explain what
the losing team needed to do to win the debate. "The negative needed better evidence that showed why these
programs would not work." Here is an
example (short) decision: ·
"I felt the affirmative showed that
their peacekeeping policy would stop genocide in Sudan. The negative tried to
say that genocide would continue. But the affirmative evidence showed that
officers using the plan have stopped such atrocities in the past. So, I voted
affirmative." CAN I INTERJECT MY
OPINION INTO MY DECISION? Avoid it. You
should not make a decision based solely on your beliefs. For example, it
would be wrong to vote against a case simply because you didn't like it. DO
NOT MAKE ARGUMENTS AGAINST A TEAM. Make your decisions based on the arguments
that the teams present in the debate. But the argument key to my decision
was really bad! Well, two
things: 1) Give weak arguments full credit as a weak argument—no less and no
more; 2) Blame the team that couldn't even show that it was a weak
argument—rather than the team that made the weak argument. Don’t
make your decision based on your opinion—make it based on the arguments and
responses made by the debaters. That is the point of debate—it is for the
debaters, not the judges, to argue. CAN I PRESENT MY
DECISION ORALLY TO THE DEBATERS? --Depends on the tournament. If it is okay with the tournament, I
encourage you to explain your decision to the debaters and offer them
comments to improve. As much as is possible—send in your ballot BEFORE you
give your oral decision so that you keep the tournament on schedule—including
taking the debaters with you to the ballot table—return the ballot and then
talk to the debaters. Problem: One of
the debaters is arguing with me! 1) Put a stop to it: Authoritatively say: “I’m not here to argue with
you; I’m explaining my decision and I’ll answer questions but not arguments
you are now making; 2) If the debater doesn’t stop: Authoritatively say:
“Thanks for the debate; I’m finished and moving on to my next round” and
leave. If the debater is rude—lower their speaker points and make note of it
on the ballot. BE SURE TO TURN IN YOUR BALLOT BY
THE TIME EXPECTED IN THE SCHEDULE. |
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