Inside the 2026-2027 NFHS Policy Topic Voting Process
This post was originally posted in August 2025 during the NFHS Topic Selection Meeting.
NDCA Voting Process at the TSM
This year, the NDCA will use Ranked Choice Voting to streamline and strengthen the fairness of the NDCA's vote in the topic selection process across all voting rounds. With 12 proposed topics on the ballot, RCV allows each voter to rank the options in order of preference—from your top choice (1) to your least preferred (12).
Why Ranked Choice Voting?
RCV ensures that every vote counts—even if your top choice is eliminated in early rounds. Instead of asking you to vote again after each elimination, we’ll use your ranked ballot to automatically retabulate your next-best preferences. This eliminates the need to fill out a new ballot after each round and reflects a more complete picture of community priorities.
How It Works
You’ll rank all 12 topics from 1 (most preferred) to 12 (least preferred) on a single ballot.
After collecting all ballots, we’ll conduct the first round of counting. If no topic has a majority of first-choice votes, the topic with the fewest is eliminated. We will post NDCA's ballot as well as the members who voted on tomorrow morning's post.
For voters who selected the eliminated topic as their top choice, their vote will automatically transfer to their next highest-ranked topic still in the running.
This process continues until a topic secures majority support—or until we reach the required number of finalists.
In short: You submit one ballot, and your full set of preferences is used to determine the outcomes in every round, without the need to vote again in our system.
Resources for an Informed Ballot
As you rank the 12 proposed topics, we encourage you to engage deeply with the available materials and community conversations. Each topic paper was authored by members of our community and reflects countless hours of research, discussion, and refinement. These papers provide crucial context about the scope, significance, and educational value of each proposal.
In addition, the subcommittee discussions and NDCA blog updates offer insight into the deliberation process—highlighting strengths, concerns, and points of clarification raised by other coaches and delegates.
Before casting your ranked ballot, we recommend:
Reviewing summaries and updates from the Debatability Roundtables and Marshall Subcommittees
Review final wording choices from the Saturday Wording Session.
Reflecting on how each topic supports student learning, equity, and competitive balance
Who Can Vote?
Lifetime Institutional Members may designate up to three voting representatives per high school. The school’s director of record must notify the NDCA of these representatives in advance.
Lifetime Individual Members are eligible to vote if they are currently affiliated with a high school. However, those who became lifetime members prior to 2014 retain voting privileges even if they are no longer affiliated with a school.
Annual School Memberships (2024–2025 and 2025-2026) entitle one vote per school.
If you submit multiple ballots, only your most recent submission will be counted; all previous entries will be deleted.
How NDCA Voted At the Meeting
There are 25 voting delegates at the meeting. We will post full results after each vote.
With 12 papers, four votes will occur. After each vote, there will be 10 minutes of cuacus time.
After the first vote, Top 10 ballots will move on.
After the second vote, Top 7 ballots will move on.
After the third vote, Top 6 ballots will move on
After the fourth vote, the Final 5 will be announced
Round 1 — Ballot Cast
NDCA will cast a ballot for Nuclear Weapons, Carbon Pricing, Corporate Control, Energy and Health Insurance
Food Integrity & Infectious Disease are eliminated.
Round 2 — Ballot Cast
NDCA will cast a ballot for Nuclear Weapons, Carbon Pricing, Corporate Control, Energy and Health Insurance
Mass Transit, Labor, and Food Subsidies are eliminated.
Round 3 — Ballot Cast
NDCA will cast a ballot for Nuclear Weapons, Carbon Pricing, Corporate Control, Energy and Health Insurance
Voting & Election Reform is eliminated.
Round 4 — Ballot Cast
NDCA will cast a ballot for Nuclear Weapons, Carbon Pricing, Corporate Control, Energy and Health Insurance
Executive Authority is eliminated.
OVERALL NFHS VOTING DATA
| Topic Area | Ballot 1 Vote | Ballot 2 Vote | Ballot 3 Vote | Ballot 4 Vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Insurance | 21 | 21 | 23 | 25 |
| Corporate Control | 16 | 17 | 22 | 24 |
| Nuclear Weapons | 15 | 17 | 18 | 24 |
| Carbon Pricing | 12 | 12 | 17 | 20 |
| Energy | 10 | 11 | 16 | 17 |
| Executive Power | 14 | 13 | 15 | 15 |
| Voting & Election Reform | 14 | 14 | 14 | |
| Mass Transit | 7 | 5 | ||
| Labor | 6 | 8 | ||
| Food Subsidies | 9 | 10 | ||
| Infectious Disease Preparedness | 3 | |||
| Food Integrity | 2 |
NDCA TOPIC VOTING DATA
| Topic Area | Ballot 1 Vote | Ballot 2 Vote | Ballot 3 Vote | Ballot 4 Vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear Weapons | 31 | 31 | 33 | 34 |
| Carbon Pricing | 26 | 27 | 28 | 33 |
| Corporate Control | 25 | 27 | 31 | 32 |
| Health Insurance | 25 | 26 | 30 | 32 |
| Energy | 24 | 25 | 32 | 33 |
| Executive Power | 20 | 20 | 24 | 24 |
| Food Subsidies | 10 | 10 | ||
| Voting & Election Reform | 9 | 9 | 12 | |
| Labor | 8 | 8 | ||
| Mass Transit | 5 | 6 | ||
| Food Integrity | 4 | |||
| Infectious Disease Preparedness | 3 |
The following individuals cast a ballot for the NDCA Topic Vote.
Tim Averill – Waring School
Maggie Berthiaume – Woodward Academy
Bill Batterman – Pre-2014 lifetime member
Ian Beier – College Prep
Joseph Carver – The Meadows School
Thaddeus Cross – Woodward Academy
Tim Ellis – Washburn Rural High School
Eric Forslund – Pace Academy
Stephen Goldberg – CK McClatchy
Bryan Gaston – Heritage Hall School
Dominic Henderson – Westwood
Kevin Hirn – Westwood
Robert Holmes – Gulliver
Lauren Ivey – Alpharetta
Shunta Jordan – Pre-2014 Lifetime Member
Jeff Kahn – Strath Haven
Sheryl Kaczmarek – Lexington
Will Katz – Carrollton Sacred Heart
Megan Klingler - Pace Academy
John Lawson – Wylie E. Groves HS
Dan Lingel – Jesuit Dallas
Chris McDonald – Eagan High School
Tracy McFarland – Jesuit Dallas
Chad Meadows – Marist School
Jeffrey Miller – Marist School
Matthew Munday – Westminster
Neill Normand – Caddo Magnet HS
Julie Roos – Northwest Career and Technical Academy
Dana M. Randall – Pre-2014 lifetime member
Abby Schirmer – Marist School
Lucia Scott – The Barstow School
Adam Smiley – Alpharetta
Tommy Snider – Casady School
Clay Stewart – The Galloway School
Becca Steiner – Woodward Academy
Teja Vepa – Collegiate School
Aaron Vinson – New Trier
Whit Whitmore – Pace Academy
The five topic choices for 2026-2027 will be:
CARBON PRICING — Resolved: The United States federal government should adopt a domestic climate policy including a carbon pricing instrument.
CORPORATE CONTROL — Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially expand the scope of antitrust liability.
ENERGY — Resolved: The United States federal government should establish a domestic renewable energy policy, including a market based instrument.
HEALTH INSURANCE — Resolved: The United States federal government should establish national health insurance in the United States.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS — Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce the size and/or restrict the role of its nuclear weapons arsenal