Challenged by trying to keep the tiebreaker judge a secret?  Does the tiebreaker judge need to be briefed too?  Try this idea, which I think is mostly within the rules, but no promises.

Put all your judging ballots, including the tiebreaker ballot, into envelopes (one each) and mix them up.  Recruit one extra judge — if you need nine, recruit ten.  Brief them all together.  Hand out the envelopes randomly, instructing the judges to put the completed ballot in the envelope for pickup.

After the contest, the ballot counters collect all the ballots together and take them for counting.  When the tiebreaker envelope is opened, it’s immediately handed to the chief judge, for use as necessary.

If you felt that not even a ballot counter should have a chance of seeing the tiebreaker ballot, you could discreetly mark that envelope in the corner before handing them out, and then look for it before they’re opened.

Advantages:

• No one knows who the tiebreaker judge is until the ballots are being counted.
• The tiebreaker judge gets briefed like the other judges.
• No one in the audience observing the proceedings can possibly know who the tiebreaker judge is (out of the other judges).
• The tiebreaker judge is randomly selected.

What are your thoughts?