Content Outline
Checking Side Balance
To ensure side balance, teams are generally side-locked in even-numbered rounds to argue the opposite side of the immediately preceding odd-numbered round. (e.g., A team could possibly argue Affirmative in Round 2 and again in Round 3. However, if the team was Affirmative in Round 3, they must be Negative in Round 4.)
Examples
Each team has an ID number next to their team name. In the first example below, we see that the Affirmative team previously argued Affirmative against teams 14569 and 14565, and they argued Negative against teams 14568 and 14566.
- To check for side balance, open each match to confirm the following pattern:
- For an odd-numbered round, the teams should display an equal number of times as Aff and as Neg. Here is an example from a Round 5 match:
- For an even-numbered round, the Affirmative team should have one more “TEAM AS NEG” than they have “TEAM AS AFF”. The reverse should be true of the Negative team. Here is an example of a Round 6 match:
- If the pattern looks off, check whether the team has had a bye, has forfeited, or has been the opponent of a forfeit. Here is an example of a team whose previous bye has resulted in one less “TEAM AS NEG” than would otherwise be expected:
All of the above examples of side balance look good. If you see a side assignment that will result in a preventable imbalance, please report it and wait for guidance before building ballots from the match.