Judges Voting from Their Phones

Last updated October 2026  ·  5 min read

With phone voting, each seated kata judge votes on their own phone instead of the table copying their flags. The votes land on the operator's board, and the table can still enter any flag by hand. It works on the kata flags board and the kata points board.

Phone voting is set per tatami and is off by default. When it is off, nothing changes: the operator enters the flags as usual.

Turning it on

• 1
  Seat the panel Judges need an assignment on that tatami and must be seated in a chair. See Judge interface setup.
• 2
  Press "Phone voting: No" The button sits in the kata flags and kata points board headers and in the Panel judges editor for the mat. It turns to Phone voting: Yes and the board confirms it is on for this tatami. Press it again to turn it off.
• 3
  Judges keep their screen open Seated judges' phones switch to the voting screen on their own.

The director, and staff with operate scoreboard or assign judges, can change the setting. Phone voting needs the tournament online; it does not run on a mat working offline.

What the judge sees

A seated judge on a tatami with phone voting on gets a full-screen voting view with the mat and their chair (for example "Chair J3"), the division and round, and each athlete's short name and dojo.

• Kata flags: two large AKA and AO buttons. Tap to vote. The phone confirms "Vote sent" and the vote can be changed until the flags are shown.
• Kata points: a score pad within the event's score range. Send the score; it can be changed until the table uses the scores.
• Separate performances: voting stays closed while the athletes perform and opens when both are done.
• Smaller panel: if the match uses 3 judges and the phone is in chair J4 or J5, it says this match is judged by 3 judges and that they don't vote in it.
• Between matches: "Waiting for the next match". The next match appears on its own.

Swap sides flips AKA and AO on the phone for a judge sitting on the other side of the mat. The screen stays awake while voting is open. If the connection drops, the phone shows a banner and the judge raises their flag so the table can enter it.

What the operator sees

Each judge card on the board says whether that chair has voted, is waiting for the phone, or has no phone and must be entered by hand. The Show flags button counts the votes in (for example "Show flags (5/5)") and stands out when every chair has voted.

Pressing Show flags reads the phones, fills the cards and reveals the flags on the TV as usual. If only some phones have voted, the board asks first, and the missing ones can be entered by hand. A card the table set by hand always wins over the phone. If the phones' votes don't arrive within a few seconds, the board says so: tap each judge's card to enter their flag.

On the kata points board, Use the phones' scores (with the count received) fills the empty score fields. Anything already typed stays.

Who can vote

• Only the judge who holds that chair right now, on that tatami, in this tournament.
• Only for the match on the board, and only while voting is open.
• Only chairs within the match's panel size.

Votes are sealed until the reveal. The board, the TV and the other phones only learn which chairs have voted, never what they voted. Once the flags are shown the votes lock.

The record

Each match stores whether each vote came from the phone or was entered by hand, including cases where the table overrode the phone. Judge Analytics → Votes by judge shows this per judge. See Per-judge vote report.