CNN has informed GOP presidential campaigns of a change to the criteria for participation in the main-stage debate they’re hosting later this month. The change, which was announced on a conference call with campaign officials, should allow Carly Fiorina to join the 10 Republicans who participated in last month’s Fox News debate, for a total of 11 candidates.

“They will use the same criteria as before and now allow for someone who averages in the top 10 post-debate to get in, even if it results in more than 10 candidates,” a source on the call tells National Review. “Effectively, that should add Carly to the same top 10 as before.”

Fiorina has waged a public campaign to be allowed to participate in the CNN debate, as polls have shown her surging in the aftermath of the Fox News debate. Before the change, she seemed likely to be excluded despite her rise in the polls, because CNN was set to rely on surveys conducted before the Fox debate to decide which 10 candidates would be allowed to participate.

CNN explained that the change was necessary due to a shortage of new polling data. ”We learned this week that there will likely be only two more polls by the deadline of September 10th,” the network said in a statement. ”In a world where we expected there to be at least 15 national polls, based on historic precedent, it appears there will be only five. As a result, we now believe we should adjust the criteria to ensure the next debate best reflects the most current state of the national race.”

Fiorina’s participation in the next debate will not be official until the next two polls are released, but her performance in the previous three surveys puts her in a strong position. ”I applaud CNN for recognizing the historic nature of this debate and fully support the network’s decision to amend their criteria,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement.

— Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review.