diff --git a/src/components/admin/round/ranking-dashboard.tsx b/src/components/admin/round/ranking-dashboard.tsx
index 46789dd..ac42464 100644
--- a/src/components/admin/round/ranking-dashboard.tsx
+++ b/src/components/admin/round/ranking-dashboard.tsx
@@ -226,17 +226,16 @@ function SortableProjectRow({
           )
         })()}
 
-        {/* Active pass rate chip */}
-        {(() => {
-          const active = useBalancedPassRate && balancedPassRate != null ? balancedPassRate : rawPassRate
+        {/* Active pass rate chip — only when advance votes factor into rank */}
+        {useBalancedPassRate && (() => {
+          const active = balancedPassRate ?? rawPassRate
           if (active == null) return null
-          const label = useBalancedPassRate && balancedPassRate != null ? 'Bal Yes%' : 'Yes%'
           return (
             <span
               className="inline-flex items-baseline gap-1 rounded-md border bg-muted/50 px-2 py-0.5 text-xs tabular-nums"
-              title={`${useBalancedPassRate && balancedPassRate != null ? 'Harshness-corrected approval rate' : 'Raw approval rate'} (factored into rank)`}
+              title="Harshness-corrected approval rate (factored into rank)"
             >
-              <span className="text-[10px] uppercase tracking-wide text-muted-foreground">{label}</span>
+              <span className="text-[10px] uppercase tracking-wide text-muted-foreground">Yes%</span>
               <span className="font-semibold">{Math.round(active * 100)}%</span>
             </span>
           )
@@ -432,18 +431,17 @@ export function RankingDashboard({ competitionId: _competitionId, roundId }: Ran
       const dedupedStartup = dedup(startup)
       const dedupedConcept = dedup(concept)
 
-      // Composite ranking score combining (balanced-or-raw) average with the
-      // (balanced-or-raw) advance pass rate via the round's scoreWeight /
-      // passRateWeight sliders. Same formula used by the live re-sort effect
-      // and the threshold cutoff so all three stay in lock-step.
+      // Composite ranking score. When the advance-vote toggle is OFF, pass
+      // rate is not in the formula at all — pure score-based ranking. When ON,
+      // the harshness-corrected (balanced) pass rate enters at passRateWeight.
+      // The score toggle independently picks balanced vs raw average. Same
+      // formula used by the live re-sort effect and the threshold cutoff.
       const compositeFor = (projectId: string, rawScoreFallback: number | null | undefined): number => {
         const b = evalScores.balanced[projectId]
         const score = useBalanced && b?.balancedAverage != null ? b.balancedAverage : (rawScoreFallback ?? null)
         const scoreUnit = score != null ? Math.max(0, Math.min(1, (score - 1) / 9)) : 0
-        const passRate =
-          useBalancedPassRate && b?.balancedPassRate != null ? b.balancedPassRate
-          : b?.rawPassRate != null ? b.rawPassRate
-          : null
+        if (!useBalancedPassRate) return scoreUnit
+        const passRate = b?.balancedPassRate ?? b?.rawPassRate ?? null
         const passUnit = passRate ?? 0
         const sW = localScoreWeight
         const pW = localPassRateWeight
@@ -529,10 +527,8 @@ export function RankingDashboard({ competitionId: _competitionId, roundId }: Ran
       const b = evalScores.balanced[projectId]
       const score = useBalanced && b?.balancedAverage != null ? b.balancedAverage : (rawScoreFallback ?? null)
       const scoreUnit = score != null ? Math.max(0, Math.min(1, (score - 1) / 9)) : 0
-      const passRate =
-        useBalancedPassRate && b?.balancedPassRate != null ? b.balancedPassRate
-        : b?.rawPassRate != null ? b.rawPassRate
-        : null
+      if (!useBalancedPassRate) return scoreUnit
+      const passRate = b?.balancedPassRate ?? b?.rawPassRate ?? null
       const passUnit = passRate ?? 0
       const sW = localScoreWeight
       const pW = localPassRateWeight
@@ -985,19 +981,16 @@ export function RankingDashboard({ competitionId: _competitionId, roundId }: Ran
                 const threshold = evalConfig?.advanceScoreThreshold ?? 0
 
                 // Effective ranking score for the threshold cutoff. Mirrors
-                // the composite formula used by the sort: weighted blend of
-                // (balanced-or-raw) avg score and (balanced-or-raw) pass rate.
-                // For the visible 1-10 threshold we render the score component
-                // back on the 1-10 scale.
+                // the composite formula used by the sort. When the advance-vote
+                // toggle is OFF, threshold compares against the score directly
+                // (back in 1-10 space) so the cutoff matches admin intent.
                 const effectiveScore = (id: string) => {
                   const e = rankingMap.get(id)
                   const b = evalScores?.balanced[id]
                   const score = useBalanced && b?.balancedAverage != null ? b.balancedAverage : (e?.avgGlobalScore ?? null)
+                  if (!useBalancedPassRate) return score ?? 0
                   const scoreUnit = score != null ? Math.max(0, Math.min(1, (score - 1) / 9)) : 0
-                  const passRate =
-                    useBalancedPassRate && b?.balancedPassRate != null ? b.balancedPassRate
-                    : b?.rawPassRate != null ? b.rawPassRate
-                    : null
+                  const passRate = b?.balancedPassRate ?? b?.rawPassRate ?? null
                   const passUnit = passRate ?? 0
                   const sW = localScoreWeight
                   const pW = localPassRateWeight
@@ -1158,9 +1151,10 @@ export function RankingDashboard({ competitionId: _competitionId, roundId }: Ran
                 </div>
                 <div className="flex items-center justify-between rounded-lg border p-3">
                   <div className="flex flex-col">
-                    <span className="text-sm font-medium">Balance juror approval rate (advance vote)</span>
+                    <span className="text-sm font-medium">Factor advance votes into ranking</span>
                     <span className="text-xs text-muted-foreground">
-                      Weights yes/no votes by how often each juror says yes. Off uses raw pass rate.
+                      When on, yes/no votes (harshness-corrected) blend with the score via the
+                      score/pass-rate weights. When off, the ranking is score-only.
                     </span>
                   </div>
                   <Switch checked={useBalancedPassRate} onCheckedChange={persistUseBalancedPassRate} />