I am interested in the USCF rules committee opinion on whether the organizer of a scholastic event has authority to publish and enforce the following variation to proposed rule 15A
"Electronic Notation will not be allowed at the primary sections of this tournament. If notation is to be taken, it will be done with pencil and paper unless extraordinary physical limitations exist in the opinion of the Tournament Director. In addition, with regard to rule 15A, this rule will be enforced in keeping with the way that it was written and published in the 5th edition of US Chess Federation’s Official Rules of Chess
“The Player may first make the move, and then write it on the scoresheet, or vice versa”
My intention of proposing and listing my tournaments in this way is attempt to eliminate the confusion which is inevitable in the primary school section where notation is not required, but where rules regarding making claims based on notation are still enforced. It is a distinct advantage at this age to be able to record moves with a drag and drop. At this time, with the expense of such tools and the availability at less than 5% of players of this age utilizing such tools, this is an attempt to keep the playing field level, and not give the advantage in over the board play to whoever has the best notation equipment, but instead to who is playing the best chess and who is attempting to learn step one of compliance with the required notation rules - the taking of notation.