PA-01
Purpose and Boundaries
The Live Battle Protest process lets a driver who competed in a disputed battle request review of a specific, evidence-supported claim of a clear and material error.
You drove the battle
Only a driver who competed in the disputed battle may submit its protest.
Bring facts
Staff needs clear information, not vague frustration.
Keep it private
The correct channel protects the event and everyone involved.
PA-02
Choose the Correct Process
Use the process that matches the outcome you want. A clarification requests an explanation. A protest asks EFVD to review an eligible battle result.
| Process | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Objective live-battle protest | A verifiable fact, mandatory procedure or automatic rule, such as the wrong driver advancing, incorrect lead/chase order, wrong run count, confirmed start/server failure or result-entry error. |
| Subjective live-battle protest | A specific, material incident involving application of criteria such as contact responsibility, chaseability, legal passing, mistake severity, line, angle or proximity. |
| Uncertain live-battle protest | The driver can identify the incident and material effect but is unsure how to classify it. Event Ops may reclassify it. |
| Competition Question | A qualifying name, score-entry, calculation or system error reported before qualifying results and the bracket are locked. The run is not rescored. |
| Judging Clarification | An explanation of how published judging criteria applied to the driver's own qualifying run or battle. It does not request a result change. |
| Staff report or disciplinary appeal | Choose Contact Staff → Conduct or Safety. For an appeal, enter Disciplinary appeal as the subject. |
| Administrative review | Choose Contact Staff → EFVD Competition → Competition Question and clearly identify the decision or correction being reviewed. |
How to request a Judging Clarification
After the event, choose Contact Staff → EFVD Competition → Competition Question in Discord. Enter Judging clarification as the subject. Identify the event, your run or battle, and the specific call or criterion you want explained.
A clarification is informational. It does not reopen, rescore or rejudge the run or battle, and it cannot change the result. EFVD is not required to review replay or other evidence.
Staff decides whether, when and how to respond. Internal votes, deliberations, notes and private evidence may remain confidential.
A clarification does not replace a Live Battle Protest or pause or extend its deadline. A driver seeking a battle-result correction must use the protest process when eligible.
PA-03
What Cannot Be Protested
A protest is not a second judge vote or a way to re-argue the whole battle. A subjective submission must identify a specific incident, the relevant judging principle, supporting evidence and a material connection to the result. Event Ops decides admissibility.
| Not for protest | Why |
|---|---|
| Driver did not compete in the battle | Only a driver from the disputed battle has standing to submit its protest. |
| General disagreement or judging preference | Dissatisfaction without a defined, material incident is inadmissible. |
| Qualifying score or judge interpretation | Qualifying is not part of the battle-protest flow. A Competition Question may correct an objective entry or system error. A Judging Clarification may explain the criteria, but neither route rescores the run. |
| Decision to call OMT | An OMT call itself cannot be protested. |
| Original runs after an OMT | Only the completed OMT runs may support a protest of the final winner, and subjective review cannot create another OMT. |
| Locked bracket stage, duplicate or unsupported claim | Late, duplicated, incomplete, outside-scope or unsupported submissions may be inadmissible. |
PA-04
Submission Deadlines
Event Ops applies the deadline announced for the event. When no deposit is required, creating the private ticket officially submits the protest. After three prior protests have been resolved as Inadmissible, the next protest remains a draft until its $5 CAD Stripe deposit is verified.
Requesting a Judging Clarification does not pause or extend the Live Battle Protest deadline.
Use the event deadline
Open the private ticket and complete every structured answer before the announced deadline.
Ticket or payment verification
The ticket creation time counts when no deposit is required. When a deposit is required, successful Stripe verification records the official submission time.
Notify Event Ops immediately
If a required payment fails, report it in the open draft ticket. Event Ops records the Discord message timestamp and determines whether the event deadline was met.
PA-05
Evidence Requirements
The driver must identify the disputed battle and opponent, relevant run, specific incident, rule or judging principle, course location or approximate timestamp, material effect and supporting evidence or a precise reference to official evidence.
Show the incident
Use replay files, stream clips or recordings when available. Avoid cropped clips that remove important context.
Point to the moment
Include exact times, run numbers, battle names or message links.
Connect evidence to the result
Explain how the identified issue affected, or could reasonably have affected, the winner, a mandatory procedure, run validity or bracket advancement.
PA-06
Protest Flow
Live battle protests are handled privately through the Discord Contact Staff panel. One active protest ticket is permitted per driver, and all grounds from the disputed battle must be included in that ticket.
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01
Open the private route
Choose EFVD Competition, then Live Battle Protest in Contact Staff.
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02
Confirm and classify
Confirm standing and restrictions, then choose Objective, Subjective or Uncertain.
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03
Complete and submit
Answer the structured questions. If you have fewer than three prior Inadmissible outcomes, creating the private ticket officially submits the protest.
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04
Deposit when required
After three prior Inadmissible outcomes, use the ticket-bound Stripe link for exactly $5 CAD and select Check Payment. EFVD adds no processing fee.
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05
Event Ops review
After the ticket or required payment verification officially submits the protest, Event Ops decides standing, timeliness, scope, admissibility and outcome in the same ticket.
PA-07
Review Authority
The announced winner remains unless EFVD confirms a clear and material error. Event Ops decides how the protest is reviewed, who is involved, what information is shared and whether a competition correction is required.
A clarification response does not change the announced winner. EFVD may make a separate correction under the authority described in the Competition Guide.
Owned by Event Ops
Event Ops checks standing, deadline, completeness, scope, any required payment and the identified incident.
Assigned by EFVD
Appropriate judges or officials may review the claim. The driver does not participate in deliberations.
Final-run boundary
Only completed OMT runs may support a protest of the final winner; original runs stay closed and subjective review cannot create another OMT.
PA-08
Possible Outcomes
Only protests officially resolved as Inadmissible count toward the deposit threshold. Denied, Partially Upheld, Upheld and Unable to Review outcomes do not count. After three prior Inadmissible outcomes on the driver's Discord account, each later protest requires a refundable $5 CAD deposit before submission. The count carries across events.
The deposit is not a filing fee. When a deposit is required and collected, the official outcome fixes its action as shown below.
| Official outcome | Competition meaning | Deposit |
|---|---|---|
| Inadmissible | The submission lacks standing, is late, incomplete, unsupported, duplicated, outside scope or otherwise cannot be accepted. This is the only outcome that counts toward the threshold. | If collected, retained |
| Denied | The reviewed claim does not establish a material error; the announced result stands. This outcome does not count toward the threshold. | If collected, retained |
| Partially Upheld | EFVD confirms part of the material claim and records any competition effect. | If collected, exactly $5 CAD refunded |
| Upheld | EFVD confirms a material error and records any result, bracket or other competition effect. | If collected, exactly $5 CAD refunded |
| Unable to Review | An EFVD system failure makes review impossible. | If collected, exactly $5 CAD refunded |
If no deposit was required, there is nothing to refund or retain. A confirmed material error receives any collected deposit back even when the winner does not change. A protest withdrawn after review starts retains any collected deposit. Refunds are initiated through Stripe to the original payment method; allow up to 14 business days for an issued refund to appear.
PA-09
Anti-Drama Rules
The protest system exists to solve issues, not to create public pressure campaigns.
Use official channels
Do not turn a protest into a public argument.
Stay factual
Insults, threats or harassment can create conduct action.
Accept closure
Once staff closes a review, continued escalation may be treated separately.
PA-10
Policy Changes
Last updated: August 12, 2026. This guide remains effective until EFVD changes it; it does not expire at the end of a season. Staff announce material rule changes through the official EFVD Discord.