Congress Elim Tie Breakers

Congress elimination rounds use the same converted points scale as prelims for most criteria (1st = 8 points, 2nd = 7 points, down to 0 points for 9th place or worse), but there are up to seven ordered tiebreakers instead of five. Some criteria only look at the single elimination round being ranked; others pool an entry's ranks all the way back through prelims. Both kinds are covered below.

Two different things get recorded on every ballot, and it's worth keeping them straight: a rank is the placement a judge or the Parliamentarian gives an entry — 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on — and it's what almost every tiebreaker below is built from. Speaker points (sometimes just called “rate”) is a separate raw numeric score, often on a scale like 15-25, that a judge also assigns independently of rank. Two entries can tie on rank but have very different speaker points, or vice versa — only Speaker Points In Elim and Speaker Points In Prelim use speaker points directly; every other criterion below is built from rank.

This round only

Imagine Priya and Marcus both make it to Finals, and 3 judges plus a Parliamentarian rank them. Each cell below shows the rank given, with the converted points in parentheses:

Rank Points In Elim: Priya has 28 (7+7+8 from judges, +6 from the Parliamentarian), Marcus also has 28 (8+8+7, +5) — tied.

Judge Pref In Elim: only judges count for this one, not the Parliamentarian. Judges 1 and 2 each ranked Marcus ahead of Priya; only Judge 3 ranked Priya ahead of Marcus. Marcus wins the head-to-head 2-to-1, so Marcus takes the tie and moves ahead of Priya.

Parliamentarian Rank Points In Elim: just the Parliamentarian's own converted points — Priya has 6, Marcus has 5. Priya moves ahead of Marcus.

Decimal In Elim: this includes the Parliamentarian, and is based on 1 / the actual rank. Priya has 2.33 (1/2 + 1/2 + 1/1 + 1/3 = .50+.50+1.00+.33), Marcus has 2.75 (1/1 + 1/1 + 1/2 + 1/4 = 1.00+1.00+.50+.25). Higher is better, so Marcus moves ahead of Priya.

Speaker Points In Elim: judges only — the Parliamentarian's rate doesn't count. Priya has 276 (90+91+95), Marcus has 274 (92+93+89). Higher is better, so on this one Priya moves ahead.

Majority Of Firsts In Elim: Marcus received a 1st-place rank from 2 of the 3 judges — a real majority — whereas Priya only has one. So Marcus moves ahead. The Parliamentarian's rank counts toward this too, but since neither Priya (3rd) nor Marcus (4th) got a 1st from the Parliamentarian this round, it doesn't change the outcome here. (If instead all 3 judges plus the Parliamentarian had each picked a different entry for 1st, nobody would have a majority, and this tiebreaker would move on to the next one without distinguishing anyone.)

From prelims through this elim round

Now imagine Harper and Emerson, who both competed in prelims and are now in the same Finals chamber together. Here's every rank each of them received — 3 judges plus a Parliamentarian, in both rounds:

Total Rank Points In Event: adding up every converted point in the table from judges and parliamentarians, Harper has 30 (16 in prelims + 14 in Finals), Emerson has 27 (12 in prelims + 15 in finals). Higher is better, so Harper moves ahead.

Number Of Firsts In Event: Harper received one 1st-place rank (Judge 2, Finals); Emerson has none. Harper moves ahead.

Total Rank Points In Event, Drop High Prelim Rank Point: pool Harper's 4 prelim ranks (8th, 4th, 3rd, 5th) and drop the single worst (8th), leaving 15 converted points, then add all 14 finals converted points untouched: 29 total. Do the same for Emerson — drop the 8th, leaving 11 converted points, plus 15 converted points in finals: 26 total. Harper moves ahead since 29 is higher than 26.

Adjusted Rank Points In Event: pool all 8 ranks for each entry, drop the single best and single worst, and add up what's left. Harper's ranks sorted are 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 8th — drop the 1st and one 8th, leaving 3rd through 8th, worth 21 converted points. Emerson's sorted ranks are 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th — drop a 3rd and the 9th, leaving the same 3rd-through-8th spread, also worth 21 converted points. The scores end up tied so this tiebreaker would not advance either Harper or Emerson.

Decimal In Event: using all 8 ranks, divide 1 by the rank, add up scores. So for Harper it would be (1/8, 1/4, 1/3, 1/5, 1/8, 1/1, 1/7, 1/6) which equals 2.35 (.13 + .25 + .33 + .20 + .13 + 1 + .14 + .17). For Emerson it would be  (1/5, 1/7, 1/4, 1/8, 1/6, 1/9, 1/3, 1/3) which equals 1.66 (.20 + .14 + .25 + .13 + .17 + .11 + .33 + .33).  Higher is better now, so Harper moves ahead.

Decimal From Adjusted High-Low In Event: pool all 8 ranks for each entry, drop the single best and single worst, and calculate decimal from the remaining six ranks. So for Harper it would be (1/8, 1/4, 1/3, 1/5, 1/8, 1/1, 1/7, 1/6) which equals 1.22 (.25 + .33 + .20 + .13 + .14 + .17). For Emerson it would be  (1/5, 1/7, 1/4, 1/8, 1/6, 1/9, 1/3, 1/3) which equals 1.22 (.20 + .14 + .25 + .13 + .17 + .11 + .33 + .33). Higher is better, and this time it's a tie again — both come to 1.22, so this tiebreaker doesn't separate them either.

Prelim Seed: Harper finished prelims seeded 3rd and Emerson finished seeded 7th. Lower seed wins, so Harper moves ahead.

Speaker Points in Prelim: Add up the speaker points received from judges and parliamentarians for each competitor in preliminary rounds.

Random Number: A random number assigned to each entry at the start of the tournament. This can't be changed by tournament directors or tab staff, to ensure fairness. Higher scores are better.

Which seven elim criteria apply, and in what order, is set under Setup → Tab Settings → Congress Settings → Elim Rankings. You can set the converted points scale under the Points tab.

You can also set a specific event's settings by editing the event directly if you need more specific settings for a particular Congress event (such as novice).