Ballot

Ballot

Topic(s)	MUN, Speech and Debate, Politics
Active Years	2018 - Present
Advised	Yes
Advisor	Eric L. Gruver
Execs	President: Ted Kwee-Bintoro Director of Competitions: Audrey Hopkin Director of Events: Daphne Sahaya Director of Logistics: Yifan Guo Director of Outreach: Anay Gupta
Event(s)	TEDxYouth @ TAMS, SciMUN
Website	https://ballot.tams.club
Facebook	Link
Email	ballot.tams@gmail.com

Ballot (previously PAC-MUN and Speech and Debate) is a TAMS club dedicated to bringing Model UN, speech, debate, and political awareness to the TAMS community. We give students a stage to share their passions in TEDxtalks, connect science with politics at SciMUN, and work with UNT's Model International Organization (MIO) to organize the annual Model Arab League (MAL), and help students compete at competitions through our Speech and Debate teams. Our goal is to help students develop skills in logical thinking, public speaking, and civic discourse which will empower them to be informed and capable leaders of the future in any career.

Ballot 2019-2020 hosts a panel of students.

Events

TEDxYouth @ TAMS

TEDxYouth @ TAMS is a TEDxYouth event hosted at TAMS.

SciMUN

SciMUN is a yearly Model United Nations conference at TAMS.

Middle Ground

Ballot regularly hosts Middle Ground GAs, in which a contentious topic is debated. Participants take a stance on the issue, and attempt to seek middle ground with the opposing side (hence the name).

Political Fair

Political Fair is an event similar to Science Fair in which participants can give presentations on political issues.

Students pose for a picture while at ILMUNC 2020.

Competitions

Central Texas MUN (CTMUN)

Fall 2020

The University of Texas at Austin hosted CTMUN 2020 virtually through November 6-8, 2020. The following TAMS students participated:

General Assembly Plenary

• Zhuoli Xie - France
• Amita Manjunath - Greece

UNESCO

• Saatvik Sunkavalli - Argentina (Outstanding Delegate)

The Bangladesh Awami League

• Anay Gupta - Kazi Nurruzaman
• Ted Kwee-Bintoro - William A. S. Ouderland (Outstanding Delegate)

Summer 2020

For the first time in its history, the University of Texas at Austin hosted its first virtual conference on July 21, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The following TAMS students participated:

General Assembly

• Andrew Abraham - Bangladesh
• Joshua Joseph - Poland
• Sanjana Koratala - Republic of Korea
• Stephanie You - Russia
• Weikang (Patrick) Du - France
• Yifan Guo - Canada
• Zhuoli Xie - Mexico

Group of 20 (G20)

• Sriya Sadhu - Moon Jae-in

2020 Papal Enclave

• Yashvini Deva - Cardinal Angelo Scola
• Ted Kwee-Bintoro - Cardinal Péter Erdő (Outstanding Delegate)
  • Participated under Tompkins High School

Dallas Area MUN (DAMUN)

2021

DAMUN XI occurred virtually on January 23rd, 2021. Unfortunately, TAMS did not participate this year.

A group photo after DAMUN X.

2019

DAMUN X occurred on October 14th, 2019. The following TAMS students participated:

Human Rights Council

• Braiden Aaronson - Poland, HRC
• Saatvik Sunkavalli - (Outstanding Delegate)

World Health Organisation

• Daniel Li - WHO (Honorable Delegate)
• Abi Kumar - Nicaragua, WHO

Crisis

• Gavin Bardwell - Andrew Card

Security Council

• Aryan Agarwal - Poland, SC

Historical Security Council

• Tian Yuan - Poland, Historical SC

Arab League

• Moksh Nirvaan and Aarti Kotha - UAE
• Apsara Mitra and Jalini Balasubramaniam - Sudan

General Assembly

• Evan Carlisle - Poland
• Abhijeet Bendapudi - UAE
• Yashvini Deva - Nicaragua

2018

DAMUN X occurred on November 10, 2018.

WHO

• Ellie Rose Mattoon (Best Delegate)
• Isabella Raicu (Outstanding Delegate)

ECOSOC

• Shaurya Kumar (Best Delegate)

Ivy League Model United Nations Conference (ILMUNC)

2020

TAMS Ballot sent a delegation to ILMUNC 2020 from January 30th to February 2nd, 2020, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

North Texas High School Model Arab League (NTHSMAL)

A group photo after NTIMAL 2019.

Committees

Shout!

Shout! is a Ballot committee dedicated to fostering political activism and participation in civic duties at TAMS. This committee aids students who wish to exercise their political rights by registering them to vote and providing transportation to the polls during national and state-wide elections. We will also be covering debates and news during elections through watch parties and this page.

Committee Heads	Years
Peyton Barre	2021-2022
Temi Akinyoade	2020-2021
Mihir Khare

Speech & Debate

We are excited to be working under Ballot this year to make speech and debate at TAMS more convenient and successful than ever before. Throughout this year, we plan to compete at tournaments (which will mainly be online the first semester due to COVID) at the local, state, and national level. While participating in speech and debate, you will learn life-long skills, such as how to research, develop logical arguments on the spot, and deliver them effectively. Because Speech and Debate includes a variety of events—from oratory, where you present and 10 minute speech about a topic of your choosing, to Public Forum, where you debate against opponents with the help of a teammate—there is a definitely an event that you will enjoy competing in, so don’t be afraid to try it out!

Speech & Debate participates in IEs, PF, LD, and more!

Committee Heads	Years
Bhavik Tadigotla	2021-2022
Jennifer Yu	2020-2021
Saatvik Sunkavalli
Aarti Kotha
Sai Sarnala

Other

The cover page of volume 1 of the Ballot Buzz, published on April 19, 2020.

Ballot publishes the Ballot Buzz, which is a weekly newsletter featuring student-contributed articles on politics.

Execs

2021-2022

President: Ted Kwee-Bintoro

Director of Competitions: Audrey Hopkin

Director of Events: Daphne Sahaya

Director of Logistics: Yifan Guo

Director of Outreach: Anay Gupta

2020-2021

President: Yashvini Deva

Director of Competitions: Daniel Li

Director of Events: Sriya Sadhu

Director of Logistics: Jalini Balasubramaniam

Director of Outreach: Abi Kumar

2019-2020

Secretary General: Ellie Rose Mattoon

Speech and Debate Captain: Mayur Pabba

Director of Events: Evan Carlisle

Director of Outreach: Tara Roshan

Director of Logistics: Abhijeet Bendapudi

Advisor: Chance Townsend

2018-2019

President: Cari Reinert

Competitions Coordinator: Tejas Saboo

Education Coordinator: David Yue

Speech and Debate Coordinators: Melanie Che and David Yue

Treasurer: Grace Hu

See also

• Clubs