[eDebate] TC reform - proposal

[Pacedebate at aol.com]

I received some positive feedback about my ideas for TC reform and so here  
is a proposal with specific amendments to the constitution spelled out at the  
bottom.
The idea is that anyone who submits a wording paper would be able to get it  
put on the ballot for the first vote. My proposal would remove the "area" 
vote. 
Everyone that met the minimum standards for a wording paper would have  their 
proposal on the first ballot. Up to this point the only role of the TC  would 
be to make sure that some wording papers were written. If there are a lot  of 
wording papers then the TC wouldn't really have to do anything. If there  
weren't any people willing to write wording papers it would be the  
responsibility of the TC to write wording papers.
After the first vote the three top wording papers would then be "sent" to  
the topic committee. The three people/groups who wrote the top three  wording 
papers would be ensured that their wording would appear on the final  ballot. 
Once the top three are sent to the TC the TC would meet in June, like they  
do now, and they could suggest amendments to the original wording. The 
writer(s)  of the wording paper could veto those amendments. The TC would also be 
allowed  to add one or two wordings to each winning paper. So the final ballot 
would end  up with as many as nine and as few as three resolutions. 
 
Two advantages over the status quo:
1) This would ensure that people who voted for an "area" would end up with  
at least one option that reflected what they had voted for. That to me solves  
one of the biggest problems with the current process, which is that people  
vote for an area and then hate the wordings that end up on the ballot for that  
area.
2) It would focus the topic committee's task. Anyone who watched even a  
small amount of the TC webcast should have left with the understanding that  
despite the enormous amount of work the TC had done to prepare for the meeting  
they were still really pressed for time to get everything done they wanted to  
accomplish. One of the critical assumptions this committee made was that  
"overrule a decision" will focus this topic. The TC is confident that phrase  will 
both create a limit on the aff and establish core ground for the negative.  If 
the "edebate masses" reach a consensus they are wrong about that assumption  
the community will have one option left "Area #1 (first amendment)" topic.
 
I think this proposal does necessitate formalizing what constitutes a  
"wording paper". I don't think a one paragraph post to edebate should count as a  
wording paper. In the actual amendment to the CEDA constitution that I have  
outlined below I specified what constitutes a wording paper although that could  
be changed to say: "The topic committee will create a document formulating  
minimum standards for wording papers"
 
A motion to replace Section 2 and 3 of Article IV of the CEDA  Constitution:
 
Article IV. Topic Selection
 
A. Balloting
 
1. No later than June 1 the topic committee will report to the Executive  
Secretary no fewer than four wording papers to be voted upon by the general  
membership. No later than early July the committee will report to the  Executive 
Secretary no fewer than three and no more than nine wordings for final  
balloting. 
2. After phase one balloting, as outlined in section 3, the topic committee  
will create one or two additional resolutions that correspond to each of the  
winning wording papers. The topic committee may also suggest wording changes 
to  the original wording in each paper however, the author(s) of that wording  
paper will have final say over at least one of the resolutions appearing on  
the final ballot. This process will create the final ballot of at least three  
but no more than nine resolutions.
 
B. Wording papers
1. To be officially recognized as a "wording paper" the document must being  
with a specific resolution that would conform to traditional standards of  
resolutions selected as CEDA topics. The author(s) must include a section on  
potential affirmatives and potential negative ground. 
2. Any person or group submitting a wording paper to the topic committee  
prior to May 15th that conforms to the above standards will be placed  on the 
first topic balloting. 
 
Section 3
 
The Executive Secretary will distribute a phase one topic selection ballot  
to all CEDA members in early June. Only mailed, faxed, emailed or password  
protected website ballots received by the deadline designated by the Executive  
Secretary will be accepted. The designated deadline must be no more than five  
days before the topic announcement date. 
The Executive Secretary will distribute a final topic selection ballot  to 
all CEDA members in early July. Only mailed, faxed, emailed or password  
protected website ballots received by the deadline designated by the Executive  
Secretary will be accepted. The designated deadline must be no more than five  days 
before the topic announcement date. 
 
 
Current version of Section 2, 3 and 4
_http://cedadebate.org/_ (http://cedadebate.org/) 
 
 

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