Chief Judge Duties

Here’s a summation of the Chief Judge duties taken from the Contest Manual.

• Before the contest, voting judges, counters, and timers are briefed on their duties by the chief judge.
• Before the contest, the chief judge selects a member to act as tiebreaking judge. The identity of the tiebreaking judge is secret, and known only to the chief judge.
• The chief judge shall provide a Tiebreaking Judge’s Guide and Ballot to the tiebreaking judge before the beginning of the contest.
• There will be one minute of silence between contestant speeches, during which voting judges and the tiebreaking judge will mark their ballots. All voting judges and the tiebreaking judge will judge all contestants; the chief judge does not judge contestants.
• The chief judge personally collects the tiebreaking judge’s ballot, which must contain all contestants ranked in order by the tiebreaking judge. The top portion of the ballot is not provided to the chief judge and must be discreetly discarded by the tiebreaking judge after the contest.
• As the voting judges and the tiebreaking judge are completing their ballots at the end of the contest, the timers complete the timing record sheet, place it in the provided envelope, and hand it to the chief judge.
• Once all of the ballots have been collected, the ballot counters and the chief judge will leave the contest area and proceed to the counting room.
• Once all points are entered, the ballot counters compute the total points for each contestant and enter the totals on the bottom of the tally sheet. Point totals must be verified by all ballot counters before results are entered on the sheet. Contestants are then ranked on the bottom of the ballot according to number of points scored. c) In the event of a tie, the chief judge will consult the tiebreaking judge’s ballot.
• The tied contestant who received the highest ranking on the tiebreaking judge’s ballot will gain the contested place, and any other tied contestants will be ranked in order behind that contestant.
• All ballots and the tally sheet will be kept by the chief judge until after the winners have been announced.
• After the winners have been announced, the chief judge will destroy all ballots, the timing record, and the tally sheet.
• Two timers are appointed by the chief judge. One is provided with a stopwatch, and the other with a signaling device that displays green, yellow, and red colors.
• When the interviews are completed, collect the contest results from the chief judge.