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Vote and Delegate

Voting is how members steer the ship. This guide covers casting a yes or no vote, reading the live tally and quorum, explaining your reasoning on-chain, and handing your voting power to someone you trust through delegation. Your voting weight comes from your Shares — Loot does not vote.

What counts as your vote weight

Your weight is the voting power you held when voting opened, captured by a timestamped snapshot. Acquiring Shares after a vote starts won't change your weight for that proposal.

Step 1: Open a proposal in voting

  1. Go to your DAO's Proposals tab.
  2. Open a proposal showing the voting status.
  3. Confirm the voting window is still open — you can only vote before it closes.

Step 2: Cast your vote

  1. Read the title, description, and any discussion link.
  2. Click Vote Yes or Vote No.
  3. Approve the transaction in your wallet.

Your vote is weighted by your Shares automatically. Each address votes once per proposal.

No Shares, no vote

If you hold only Loot, you can't vote. Loot is economic stake without governance power. See Shares vs. Loot.

Step 3: Read the tally and quorum

The proposal page shows the live state of the vote.

  • Yes balance / No balance — the total Shares weight on each side.
  • Yes votes / No votes — the headcount of voters on each side.
  • Quorum — how close the vote is to the quorumPercent minimum participation needed for the result to count.

A proposal passes only if it has more yes weight than no weight and meets quorum. If quorum isn't reached by the time voting ends, the proposal can't pass even with all-yes votes. For the full mechanics, see Quorum, Grace & Retention.

Step 4: Post a vote reason (optional)

You can explain your vote on-chain so other members understand your thinking.

  1. After voting, look for the Add reason option on the proposal.
  2. Write a short explanation.
  3. Submit it — your reason is posted on-chain and shown alongside your vote.

Vote reasons build a transparent record of why decisions went the way they did, which is especially valuable in larger DAOs.

Delegation: lending your voting power

You don't have to vote on everything yourself. Delegation lets you assign your Shares' voting power to another member who votes on your behalf. You keep your tokens and your full economic claim — only the vote moves.

Shares delegate, Loot does not

Only Shares carry delegatable voting power. When Shares are first minted to a new address, that address auto-delegates to itself, so you can vote immediately.

Step 1: Open delegation

  1. Go to your DAO's Members tab.
  2. Find the delegates view or your own member card.
  3. Open the delegation control.

Step 2: Choose a delegate

  1. Enter the Cyprus-1 address of the member you want to delegate to.
  2. Confirm and approve the transaction.

Your voting power now flows to that member. They vote with it; you can reclaim it any time by delegating back to yourself.

Why delegation matters at scale

In bigger DAOs, passive holders delegating to a handful of active members is often the only reliable way to hit quorum. A council of 10 to 15 active delegates can carry votes for hundreds of holders.

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