A strike card refers to a specific piece of evidence (a "card," in debate parlance) that has been struck — meaning removed from consideration — during or before a competitive debate round. The term is most common in U.S. policy debate and Lincoln-Douglas circuits, where evidence is read aloud from cut excerpts of articles, books, and reports.
Cards can be struck for several reasons:
- Evidence ethics violations: misrepresenting the author's argument, fabricating qualifications, omitting key context, or distorting a quotation through aggressive bracketing or ellipses. Under National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) and National Debate Tournament (NDT) norms, judges may strike offending evidence and, in serious cases, award a loss with low speaker points.
- Miscut or clipped cards: when a debater reads less of the card than is highlighted, or claims to have read text they skipped. Clipping is widely treated as a round-ending violation.
- Pre-round agreements: occasionally teams agree to strike certain arguments (for example, a kritik based on the opponent's personal identity) before the round begins.
The procedure typically involves the accusing team stopping the round, presenting the original source alongside the card as read, and asking the judge to rule. If the judge agrees, the card is removed from the flow and cannot be weighed in the decision. Some tournaments require the accusation to be staked: the accusing team wins outright if correct, loses outright if wrong.
Strike cards are distinct from a strike sheet, which is the pre-tournament form on which teams or judges list opponents or arbiters they wish to avoid being paired with. Both share the underlying idea of formal exclusion, but the strike card operates inside the round on the evidentiary record, while strike sheets operate on the pairing.
For MUN delegates transitioning from debate, the closest analogue is a chair ruling a source inadmissible during a moderated caucus, though MUN lacks debate's formalized evidence-challenge procedure.
Example
At the 2019 NDT, several rounds featured evidence challenges in which teams asked judges to strike cards alleged to have been clipped during constructive speeches.
Frequently asked questions
At minimum the evidence is excluded from the judge's decision. For serious violations like clipping or fabrication, most tournaments impose a loss and reduced speaker points, and some report the incident to the debater's coach or school.
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