Congressional Debate Information

Tie-Breaks
The TOC has requested that all tournaments which award bids in Congressional Debate clearly and publicly post their tie-breakers. In the interest of both meeting that expectation and ensuring transparency for all attendees, Congressional Debate tiebreakers will function as follows:

PRELIMS:
1-Total Prelim Ranks
2-Parli Preference in Prelim House

FINALS:
1-Total Ranks in Finals
2-Total Ranks in Prelims and Finals Minus H/L
3-Parli Preference in Finals House

Presiding Officers
Each session, each house will elect a new PO. A competitor can run for PO for multiple sessions if they so choose. Point Recorders should score the PO each hour as if it were a speech. The PO which finishes ranked highest in their house will earn a gavel.

Questioning
For all sessions, we will use direct questioning wherein the questioning period will be divided into 30-second blocks.

Competitors may not permanently amend or remove the questioning period in prelims or finals. These rules cannot be suspended.