Guides/Dedup before a draw
Removing duplicates before a fair draw
Spreadsheet exports often list the same person twice. Whether that is a mistake or an extra ticket changes the fair procedure.
Decide the rule first
- One entry per person: dedupe on a stable key (email / member id), then draw.
- Ticket weights: keep duplicates if each row is a paid ticket —fair raffle.
- Publish the rule before freezing the list.
Cleanup checklist
- Trim spaces; normalize case for comparison only (display names can stay pretty).
- Merge obvious typos only with a documented pass — silent “fixes” look biased.
- Then shuffle or pick —without bias·without replacement.
Speaker orders & habits
For speaking order, duplicates are almost always errors —speaker order. Habit lists:shuffle checklists.