Documentation

📖 Overview

Understanding CrowdVote's vision and approach

Definition and Usage

crowd•vote /ˈkraʊdvəʊt/ ▸ v.

To crowdsource decisions to members of a community, who are then free to delegate their votes to each other, whenever, and on whichever issues they like -- thereby effecting within their community, a free marketplace in which members can compete to represent others' interests, socially and unregulated by traditional electoral processes and cycles.

Example: 'The candidate easily won the election by pledging to crowdvote every official decision to her constituents.'

⎻ORIGIN 2007 http://CrowdVote.com (CC BY-SA 4.0)

CrowdVote brings a process I've been calling Social Democracy (as in "Social Media" …not the political ideology) to local communities such as condo associations, town councils, student governments, and anywhere else you might want to free Representation from the tyranny of electoral cycles.

Unlike a conventional, web-based polling application however, CrowdVote allows community members to delegate their votes to one or more other members whose judgement they trust, whenever - and, specifically, on whichever issues they like. When you follow multiple people, their star ratings are averaged to calculate your ballot. And likewise, those members can delegate their vote on to someone else, and so on.

This is done through tagging the decisions you are voting on with terms like "budget" or "environment", which allows other members of the community who trust your judgement on such issues, to then follow you (inherit your votes) on those tags.

Because votes (and their tags) are transitive, the people from whom you inherit your votes may be inheriting theirs from someone else, and they from someone else, and so on.

Trees of influence can emerge organically and evolve to more accurately reflect community sentiment in real time, rather than only once every election cycle.

…because Real Democracy happens between elections.

A Concrete Example:

Say a condo board will decide next Tuesday what color to paint the community room.

Mary is a board member, and wants to crowdsource her decision on CrowdVote, along with any specific color choices, whether or not folks can write in their own colors, supporting documentation like color codes/swatches, contractor proposals, etc…

Her neighbor Jack sees Mary's published question, and responds by casting a Ranked Choice ballot: [ 'Cathedral Gray', 'Aqua Chiffon', 'Oceanside' ]. And if Jack wants to encourage other members of the community to follow him (again, to inherit his ballot) …he'll want to take a moment to further tag Mary's decision with terms he feels characterize her question and, more importantly, on which others in the community can follow him: [ "maintenance", "beautification", "community room" ].

Now, if their neighbor Sophia is out of town or fails to cast a ballot before next Tuesday for whatever reason, CrowdVote can attempt to calculate a ballot on her behalf …but only if she has previously identified in her profile other community members whose judgement she trusts sufficiently to follow their positions on decisions like this one. Moreover, she may be inheriting votes from lots of people, on a variety of matters. She may follow Mary on "environmental" issues, Jack on "maintenance" and "budget," and also Susan on "budget". …CrowdVote just figures out who's following whom, on which issues, and averages all their star ratings to calculate Sophia's ballot (which may result in fractional stars like 3.7 or 4.2), which she is of course free to override anytime before Tuesday by logging in to CrowdVote and casting her own.

CrowdVote = Free Market Representation.

…Rather than tying Representation to a fixed term in office, CrowdVote does something not unlike what Social Media has done to traditional media: it gives everyone a voice, even if it's only a re-tweet, +1, Pin or a Like, …all of which are functionally analogous, in the CrowdVote marketplace, to inheriting a vote.

People seeking to expand their influence in the community, like Jack above, will compete for followers by voting and tagging decisions thoughtfully, perhaps in conjunction with blogging and tweeting or otherwise promoting a reputation for expertise in the issues they care about. Lobbyists will turn their attention to those members with more followers. Nobody has to wait until the next election to be heard. And all of this happens right out of the gate, because when you first fire CrowdVote up and begin publishing decisions to be voted on, your constituents will all effectively default to inheriting your vote, leaving you in a position of voting in accordance with the wishes of people who are all just inheriting your vote…but who are all free now to cast their own vote, or to follow someone else. They're not stuck with you until the next election!

How could you lose? Who is going to vote for your opponent, when they can just as easily delegate their vote to your opponent (through you on CrowdVote) and retain the option to change their mind before the next election? Moreover, CrowdVote allows everyone to compile their perfect agent of representation, someone who agrees with them on all the issues they care about.

Now, CrowdVote won't be able to enforce being used in any particular way. If you run for office on the pledge to CrowdVote all your decisions and then neglect to do so, or if your community decides to use CrowdVote itself in lieu of electing representatives at all, CrowdVote has no way to follow up on what happens after a decision's voting period closes. What CrowdVote can do, however, is make all data completely transparent and easily queried and audited through a friendly REST-ful API. Anyone can re-run the numbers anytime they like. And the calculation and tallying of every ballot is easily delineated in verbose tally reports. Finally, CrowdVote also provides a mechanism to verify everyone's membership in the community, while preserving the anonymity of the relationship between their identity and their voting record, thereby allowing voters to remain anonymous, if they like.

Technology & Approach

Key characteristics of the project: Social Democracy (as in "Social Media"), STAR Voting (Score Then Automatic Runoff) as opposed to First-Past-the-Post, folksonomy, Python, Django, Open Source, Creative Commons, REST API, and modern web technologies.

Key Questions for You:

Could you use CrowdVote in your community?
What would you change?

Get Involved

I really appreciate any feedback or words of encouragement at support@CrowdVote.com, @CrowdVote or Facebook/CrowdVote! Beyond just being Open Sourced, I'd love to see this built such that any non-technical community leader could just deploy their own instance to the cloud with a simple click of a button.

License: CrowdVote and all ideas expressed above by Jason Blum are licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0.

The full content continues with concrete examples, free market representation concepts, technology approach, and community engagement features.

🔧 Technical Documentation

Database architecture and development guides

🗄️ Database Architecture

CrowdVote's database architecture is designed around three core Django apps that work together to enable delegative democracy with STAR voting:

accounts - User management, profiles, following relationships, and magic link authentication
democracy - Communities, decisions, voting, STAR calculations, and results
shared - Common utilities and base models with UUID primary keys

Complete Model Relationship Diagram

Generated using django-extensions graph_models with app grouping, color-coded deletion relationships, and verbose field names.

Legend:

Red arrows: CASCADE deletion (deleting parent deletes children)
Blue arrows: PROTECT deletion (cannot delete parent if children exist)
Orange arrows: SET_NULL deletion (sets foreign key to null)
Grouped boxes: Models organized by Django app

Key Model Relationships

Democratic Process

Community → Decision → Choice
User → Ballot → Vote
Decision → Result (STAR calculations)

Delegation System

User → Following → User (delegation chains)
Community → Membership (roles & permissions)
Tag-based following for topic expertise

📚 Additional Resources

For installation instructions, API documentation, and development guides, check out our GitHub repository.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about CrowdVote

How can I create a community?

Just send an email to support@crowdvote.com from the email address you used to log into the app, and tell us a little about your community. We'll create a community for you and make you the manager.

We use this approach to ensure that new communities are created thoughtfully and for legitimate purposes. Once your community is created, you'll have full management capabilities to customize the name, description, and settings.

What is STAR voting?

STAR voting stands for Score Then Automatic Runoff. It's a voting method where voters score candidates from 0 to 5 stars, then the system automatically conducts a runoff between the two highest-scoring candidates.

We chose STAR voting for CrowdVote because it prevents vote-splitting and makes it safe to vote your conscience. Unlike traditional voting where supporting your true favorite might help elect your least favorite candidate, STAR voting ensures your vote never backfires. You can give your favorite candidate 5 stars and still help prevent your worst-case scenario.

STAR voting is also highly accurate with any number of candidates and has been extensively peer-reviewed, consistently topping the charts in studies of electoral accuracy and representativeness. It encourages more positive campaigns and ensures every voter has an equally weighted vote.

To learn more about STAR voting, including detailed studies and comparisons with other voting methods, visit starvoting.org.

What is a lobbyist? (… Or why are some members' votes not counted?)

Community managers can optionally admit members whose votes are not counted. They can vote and their votes and how they tag decisions can be followed by other members. But their votes are not actually counted in the final tally. These are effectively lobbyists, who should be lobbying you instead of your representative.

In my old condo association, the nearby Audubon Society used to come by to do some public outreach and educate us on not using fertilizers and pesticides or how sensitive the Chesapeake watershed is. And it would've been so much easier if I could just have delegated my vote to them on decisions tagged "environmental".

How are votes calculated?

CrowdVote uses a sophisticated three-stage calculation system that automatically triggers whenever anything changes (votes cast, delegation relationships, membership changes). The entire process is handled by the services.py file, which contains the core democratic algorithms.

🔄 When Recalculation is Triggered

The system automatically detects changes and triggers a complete recalculation whenever:

Community membership changes: Someone joins or leaves a community
Delegation relationships change: Someone follows or unfollows another member
Delegation tags are modified: Changes to which topics someone follows others on
New votes are cast: Direct votes or changes to existing votes
Vote tags are updated: Changes to how votes are tagged for delegation

Real-time Democracy: This means CrowdVote provides live community sentiment tracking - you can see exactly how your community feels about each issue as opinions develop, with no surprises on voting day.

⚙️ Stage 1: Ballot Calculation (Simple Averaging)

The StageBallots service is the heart of CrowdVote's delegation system. It calculates ballots for members who haven't voted directly by using simple averaging of inherited star ratings:

Direct Vote Detection: Checks if the member has cast their own manual vote
Delegation Chain Resolution: For members who haven't voted, recursively follows their delegation relationships
Tag-Based Inheritance: Matches decision tags with delegation tags to determine whose votes to inherit
Multi-Level Processing: Handles complex delegation chains (A→B→C→D) with circular reference prevention
Simple Averaging: When inheriting from multiple sources, averages the star ratings across all inherited ballots (not STAR voting)
Ballot Creation: Creates calculated ballots with fractional stars (like 3.7 or 4.2) showing both inherited votes and inherited tags

Example: Multi-Source Inheritance

If Alice follows Bob (who votes 4 stars) and Carol (who votes 3 stars) on "budget" issues, Alice's calculated ballot will show 3.5 stars - the simple average of 4 and 3. This averaging can produce fractional stars and happens at the ballot calculation stage, before the final tally.

📸 Stage 2: System Snapshot

Before running the final tally, CrowdVote creates an immutable system snapshot that captures the complete state at a specific moment in time:

Freezes Ballot State: Captures all manual and calculated ballots exactly as they exist
Records Delegation Tree: Preserves the complete network of who inherited from whom
Timestamp & Metadata: Stores when the snapshot was taken and system statistics
Prevents Race Conditions: Ensures the tally operates on consistent data even if new votes come in
Audit Trail: Creates permanent historical record for transparency and verification

🏆 Stage 3: Final Tally (STAR Voting)

Once the snapshot is frozen, the Tally service runs the complete STAR voting algorithm on the snapshot data to determine the winner:

📊 Score Phase

Calculates average star rating for each choice across all ballots
Handles fractional ratings from delegation averaging
Identifies the two highest-scoring choices for the runoff

🥊 Automatic Runoff Phase

Conducts head-to-head comparison between top two choices
For each ballot, determines which choice received more stars
Choice preferred by more voters wins the runoff
Handles ties using delegation priority ordering

🔍 Complete Transparency

Every step of this process is completely transparent and auditable:

Delegation Trees: Visual representation of how votes flow through trust networks
Vote Tallies: Complete breakdown showing manual vs. calculated votes
Tag Inheritance: Clear display of which tags were inherited from whom
STAR Results: Detailed score phase and runoff results with all calculations shown
Real-time Updates: Results update immediately as the community participates

🔬 Open Source Verification

The complete vote calculation logic is open source and available for inspection in the services.py file. Anyone can verify the algorithms, run their own calculations, or contribute improvements to the democratic process.

The result: A three-stage democratic process that separates ballot calculation (simple averaging) from winner determination (STAR voting), with immutable snapshots providing complete transparency and auditability. Every delegation relationship is honored exactly as intended, and the entire calculation tree is preserved for verification.

What if there is a tie?

Ties in STAR voting are rare (over 10 times less common than traditional choose-one voting), but when they occur, CrowdVote uses the starvote library which implements the Official STAR Voting Tiebreaker Protocol.

Official Tiebreaker Protocol

Step 1: Score Phase Ties

If multiple candidates have equal total scores, the tie is broken in favor of the candidate who was preferred (scored higher) by more voters. If there are only two candidates, this will be the majority preferred candidate. For multiple tied candidates, they are compared head-to-head, and the candidate(s) who lost the most matchups are eliminated. This can be repeated until two candidates can advance to the runoff.

Step 2: Runoff Phase Ties

If the runoff results in a tie (equal number of voters prefer each candidate), the tie is broken in favor of the candidate who had the higher total score in the scoring phase.

Step 3: Five Star Ratings

If a tie cannot be resolved using steps 1 and 2, break the tie in favor of the tied candidate who received the most five-star ratings. If this doesn't fully resolve the tie, eliminate the candidate(s) with the least five-star ratings.

Unbreakable Ties

In the extremely rare event that a tie still cannot be broken after the three steps above, CrowdVote does not implement random selection or other method for breaking ties. Instead, the decision remains tied and it's up to the community managers to decide the appropriate next step. Options might include:

Reopening the decision for additional community input
Extending the discussion period to allow more debate
Manually deciding between the tied choices based on community needs
Conducting a separate, focused vote between only the tied options
Flipping a coin

We recommend establishing your procedure for breaking ties in advance.

For complete details on the tiebreaker protocol, visit the official STAR Voting documentation at starvoting.org/ties.

How secure is CrowdVote?

CrowdVote employs multiple layers of security, combining standard web application security practices with revolutionary transparency features that make fraud virtually impossible.

Technical Security Measures

SSL/TLS Encryption: All data transmission is secured with industry-standard SSL certificates
Railway Cloud Security: Hosted on Railway's secure cloud infrastructure with enterprise-grade protection
Django Security Framework: Built on Django's robust security foundation including CSRF protection, SQL injection prevention, and XSS protection
Secure Authentication: Magic link authentication eliminates password vulnerabilities
Database Security: PostgreSQL database with encrypted connections and secure access controls
Regular Updates: Automatic security updates and dependency monitoring

Transparency-Based Security

CrowdVote's most powerful security feature is complete transparency, making fraud practically impossible.

Real-Time Verification

Every community member can see their own vote reflected in real-time
Vote tallies update instantly as the community participates
Delegation chains are visible, showing exactly how votes flow through the network
Any discrepancies would be immediately noticed by affected members

Audit Trail & Verification

For ultimate transparency and security verification:

Downloadable Snapshots: Decision reports include options to download complete data snapshots
Independent Verification: Anyone can grab copies of the vote data to verify results independently
Complete Audit Trails: Every vote, delegation change, and calculation is logged and traceable
Open Source Transparency: The calculation algorithms are open source and verifiable

Why Fraud is Nearly Impossible

Traditional voting systems rely on secrecy and trust in institutions. CrowdVote relies on transparency and real-time verification by the community itself.

Since every member can verify their own participation and see results update in real-time, any attempt to manipulate votes would be immediately detected by the affected parties. This creates a self-auditing system where the community itself is the best security mechanism.

Security Tip: We encourage community members to download data snapshots regularly during important decisions for their own records and peace of mind.

Who gets to publish decisions?

Community Managers have the authority to publish decisions for voting. This ensures that decisions are properly formatted, clearly presented, and appropriate for community consideration.

However, many managers welcome suggestions from community members about topics that should be put to a vote. The collaborative approach often leads to better decisions that truly reflect community interests.

How to Suggest a Decision

If you have an idea for a community decision, reach out to your community managers. Most are happy to work with members to craft well-structured decisions that benefit everyone.

What does the influence score mean?

Just like followers on social media or stars on GitHub projects, CrowdVote displays an influence score next to each member's avatar showing their total reach within the community.

How Influence is Calculated

Your influence score represents the total number of people whose votes you can potentially influence through delegation chains:

Direct followers: People who follow you directly
Nested followers: People who follow someone who follows you (and so on)
Tag-specific influence: Your influence on particular topics like "budget" or "environment"

Example: Cascade Influence

If Alice follows you, and Bob follows Alice, and Carol follows Bob, then your influence score includes Alice, Bob, and Carol – even though you only have one direct follower (Alice). Your voice reaches all three through the delegation network.

Detailed Influence Breakdown

On each member's profile page, you can see comprehensive influence analytics:

Direct vs. Total followers: See immediate followers vs. complete network reach
Influence by topic: Your reach on specific tags like "environmental" or "fiscal"
Network visualization: Visual representation of your delegation network
Trending influence: How your influence is growing or changing over time

Building Influence

High influence scores are earned through thoughtful participation, expertise demonstration, and building trust within your community. It's a meritocracy based on the value you provide to fellow members.

This creates a natural incentive for members to participate constructively and build expertise in areas they care about.

But don't elected representatives do more than just vote?

Absolutely! CrowdVote doesn't necessarily eliminate representatives or change most of what they do. Elections, campaigns, legislative drafting, constituent services, and advocacy all continue exactly as before.

What Representatives Continue To Do

Draft Legislation: Research, write, and propose bills and policies
Advocate for Districts: Champion local interests and priorities
Constituent Services: Help individuals navigate government bureaucracy
Committee Work: Investigate issues, hold hearings, and oversee agencies
Coalition Building: Work across party lines to build support for initiatives
Public Communication: Educate constituents about complex issues

What Changes: Accountability and Transparency

The key difference is that representatives now work knowing their constituents will cast the actual votes. This transforms the incentive structure:

No Back-Room Deals: Representatives can't promise votes they don't control
Constituent-Focused Legislation: They'll only invest time in bills their constituents will actually support
True Accountability: Campaign promises must align with voting records that constituents directly control
Enhanced Transparency: The entire process becomes more open and verifiable

The Supreme Court Analogy

Consider the Supreme Court: Justices continue to review petitions, hear oral arguments, write opinions, and shape legal precedent through their reasoning. These remain enormously impactful lifetime appointments with tremendous influence over American law.

The only difference would be that when it comes time for the final vote – the moment that determines whether a case is decided 5-4 or 6-3 – that vote is too important and impactful to trust to anyone but the People.

Enhanced Democratic Governance

Rather than diminishing the role of elected officials, CrowdVote enhances democratic governance by:

Preserving Expertise: Professional legislators continue their specialized work
Increasing Responsiveness: Representatives stay closely aligned with constituent preferences
Eliminating Corruption: Special interests can't "purchase" votes that representatives don't control
Enabling Real Democracy: The people retain ultimate decision-making power

Bottom line: Representatives keep doing everything that makes them valuable to democracy – it's just that the final vote, the moment that actually decides outcomes, belongs to the people they represent.

Why should my community switch to CrowdVote?

CrowdVote transforms community decision-making by creating a more engaged, responsive, and representative democratic process. Here are the key benefits your community will experience:

🏘️ Community Engagement Benefits

Gets Neighbors Talking Again: CrowdVote naturally encourages community members to discuss issues, share expertise, and build relationships as they decide whom to follow on different topics
Increases Participation: Members who might not vote directly can still participate by delegating to trusted neighbors, dramatically increasing community engagement
Builds Trust Networks: The system rewards expertise and thoughtful decision-making, helping communities identify and elevate their most knowledgeable members
Reduces Apathy: When people can see their vote matters and can change their mind anytime, democratic participation becomes more meaningful

🗳️ Electoral Advantages

Unbeatable Campaign Promise: Candidates who pledge to CrowdVote their decisions create an irresistible value proposition – voters get the best of both worlds
Reduced Electoral Risk: Why vote for someone's opponent when you can follow that opponent on CrowdVote but retain the ability to change your mind without waiting for the next election?
True Accountability: Representatives who CrowdVote their decisions can't break campaign promises or make back-room deals
Eliminates "Lesser of Two Evils": Voters can support candidates while maintaining direct control over actual decisions

🌍 Reflects How Influence Actually Works

CrowdVote mirrors real life: We're constantly influenced by people who are influenced by other people. You might buy a book because Oprah recommended it. You might see a movie your friend suggested after they read a review. You trust your mechanic's advice because they've built expertise over years.

We all live in one great free market of influence on each other – CrowdVote simply formalizes this natural system in democratic representation, letting the best ideas and most trusted voices rise organically.

⚡ Practical Advantages

Real-Time Democracy: Make decisions when they need to be made, not when elections happen to be scheduled
Issue-Specific Expertise: Follow different people for different topics – your neighbor for budget issues, the local environmentalist for green initiatives
Complete Transparency: Every vote is auditable, every delegation is visible, no hidden influence or corruption possible
Flexible Participation: Vote directly when you care, delegate when you trust others, change your mind anytime
Eliminates Voter Regret: Made a mistake? Change your delegation or vote directly – no need to wait years for the next election

🚀 Future-Proof Governance

Scalable Democracy: Works for small condo associations and large municipalities alike
Digital Native: Meets communities where they are in the 21st century
Corruption Resistant: Transparent, auditable, and impossible to manipulate behind closed doors
Attracts Young Talent: Tech-savvy community members see governance as accessible and engaging

The Network Effect

Just like social media transformed communication, CrowdVote transforms representation. Early adopting communities become centers of democratic innovation, attracting engaged residents and forward-thinking leaders who want to be part of the future of governance.

Bottom line: CrowdVote doesn't just improve how your community makes decisions – it rebuilds the social fabric that makes communities thrive. Democracy becomes a daily practice, not a once-every-few-years ritual.

I'm new to the community. How do I find people to follow?

Great question! CrowdVote provides several tools to help new members discover trustworthy people to follow based on shared values and expertise.

🔍 Followee Finder Tool

Use the Followee Finder on your profile page! This intelligent matching system shows you how previous community decisions were decided and asks how you would have voted.

Based on your responses, CrowdVote will suggest other members who voted similarly to you on those issues. This helps you find people whose judgment aligns with your values and priorities.

📊 Community Directory & Influence Rankings

Browse by Influence Score: Sort the community directory by influence count to see who other members trust most
Topic-Specific Leaders: Look for members with high influence on specific topics that matter to you (budget, environment, maintenance, etc.)
Recent Activity: See who's been actively voting and tagging decisions to identify engaged community members

🏘️ Organic Discovery Methods

Attend Community Meetings: Get to know members in person and understand their expertise areas
Read Decision Comments: See who provides thoughtful analysis on community issues
Ask Neighbors: Talk to friends and neighbors about who they follow and why
Start Small: Begin by following 1-2 people you know well, then gradually expand your network

🎯 Smart Following Strategy

Pro Tips for New Members:

Follow different people for different topics – your neighbor for maintenance issues, the local teacher for education matters
Quality over quantity – better to follow 3-5 people you really trust than 20 random members
You can always change – following someone isn't permanent; adjust as you learn more about the community
Mix direct and inherited followers – follow some people directly, and let others be discovered through your network

⚡ Getting Started Quickly

Complete the Followee Finder for initial recommendations
Follow 2-3 high-influence members who align with your values
Vote directly on a few decisions to establish your own preferences
Observe and adjust – see how your follows vote and refine your network
Engage with the community – the more you participate, the better you'll understand who to trust

Remember: You're building a trust network, not just collecting followers. Take time to understand who shares your values and has expertise in areas you care about. The beauty of CrowdVote is that you can always vote directly when you have strong opinions, and delegate when you trust others' judgment.

How can I get CrowdVote for my community?

CrowdVote is completely free and open source under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). This means you can download, modify, and use it however you'd like while keeping it open for everyone.

🚀 Three Ways to Get CrowdVote

1. 📥 Self-Host (Free)

Download the source code from GitHub and deploy it yourself using Docker. Perfect for tech-savvy communities who want complete control.

→ View on GitHub

2. ☁️ Managed Hosting (Coming Soon)

We'll handle all the technical details - setup, updates, backups, and security. Just focus on your community decisions.

Plans starting at $29/month for communities up to 500 members.

3. 🎉 Launch Partner Program (FREE for 1 Year!)

If you're reading this, it means I've just launched CrowdVote and I'm eager to host it for a community for free for the first year!

The only condition: community managers should actively communicate bugs, feature requests, and feedback to help make CrowdVote better for everyone.

Let's talk! support@crowdvote.com

🤝 What You Get

Complete Democratic Platform: STAR voting, delegative democracy, community management
Professional Setup: Custom domain, SSL certificates, email integration
Ongoing Support: Technical assistance, feature updates, and community guidance
Data Ownership: Your community's data stays yours - export anytime
Open Source Benefits: No vendor lock-in, transparent algorithms, community-driven development

Ready to Transform Your Community?

Whether you're a condo association tired of low turnout, a town council wanting more engagement, or any group that makes decisions together - CrowdVote can help you build stronger, more democratic communities.

Reach out today: support@crowdvote.com

How do I vote anonymously?

CrowdVote provides flexible anonymity controls that let you protect your privacy while still participating in transparent democratic processes.

🔧 Setting Your Default Preference

When you set up your profile, you'll find a switch called "Vote Anonymously by Default". This controls your default anonymity preference for all future votes:

Enabled: Your votes will be anonymous by default (you can still choose to vote publicly on specific decisions)
Disabled: Your votes will be public by default (you can still choose to vote anonymously on specific decisions)

🗳️ Per-Decision Control

Every time you vote on a decision, you can override your default setting. The voting interface will show your current anonymity setting and let you change it for that specific decision.

How Anonymous Voting Works

When you vote anonymously, your vote is counted and included in all calculations, but your username is replaced with "Anonymous" in public vote tallies and delegation trees. This protects your privacy while maintaining the integrity of the democratic process.

🔒 Privacy & Security

CrowdVote's anonymity system is designed with strong privacy protections:

Secure Implementation: Anonymous votes use one-way cryptographic hashing to protect your identity
Verifiable Participation: Community members can verify that anonymous votes come from legitimate members
Delegation Compatibility: Anonymous votes work seamlessly with the delegation system
Audit Trail: The system maintains complete transparency while protecting individual privacy

⚠️ Feature Coming Soon

Note: The anonymous voting feature is currently being enhanced and will be available in an upcoming release. The current system provides the foundation for this functionality.

💡 When to Use Anonymous Voting

Consider voting anonymously when:

The decision involves sensitive personal or financial matters
You want to avoid potential social pressure or retaliation
You prefer to keep your political or personal preferences private
The community culture encourages anonymous participation

Remember: You have complete control over your anonymity preferences and can change them at any time, either as a default setting or on a decision-by-decision basis.

Isn't this just mob rule?

This is a thoughtful concern that highlights key differences between CrowdVote and traditional "mob rule" scenarios. CrowdVote actually includes several built-in safeguards that distinguish it from impulsive crowd decision-making.

How CrowdVote Prevents Mob Rule

Traditional Mob Rule Problems:

Impulsive, emotional decisions made in the heat of the moment
Loudest voices dominate rational discussion
No time for reflection or consideration of consequences
Minority perspectives get completely silenced

CrowdVote's Safeguards:

Structured deliberation: Decisions have set timeframes allowing for thoughtful consideration
Expertise elevation: Delegation allows knowledgeable voices to carry more weight
Nuanced scoring: STAR voting captures degrees of preference, not just yes/no
Transparent process: Real-time results prevent surprise outcomes
Minority protection: Delegation networks can amplify underrepresented perspectives

The Expertise Factor

Unlike pure majority rule, CrowdVote's delegation system naturally elevates expertise and thoughtful analysis. When people delegate to those they trust on specific topics, it creates a meritocracy where influence is earned through demonstrated knowledge and sound judgment, not just popularity.

Community Standards and Management

Community managers retain important gatekeeping functions:

Deciding which issues are appropriate for community voting
Ensuring decisions are clearly presented and well-structured
Setting reasonable timeframes for consideration
Maintaining community standards and preventing abuse

The Key Difference

Mob rule happens when crowds make impulsive decisions without structure or safeguards. CrowdVote creates structured, deliberative democracy where expertise matters, minorities have voice through delegation, and transparency prevents manipulation.

Rather than replacing thoughtful governance with crowd impulses, CrowdVote enhances democratic decision-making by combining the wisdom of crowds with the guidance of expertise and the protection of structured processes.

Where did you get all those great slogans on the landing page?

Those slogans come from years of thinking about democracy, representation, and how to make governance more responsive to the people it serves! They capture the spirit of what CrowdVote is trying to achieve - making democracy more direct, transparent, and accountable.

You can see the complete collection of slogans (there are nearly 100 of them!) on our slogans page. They range from serious calls for democratic reform to playful takes on political representation.

Got ideas for more slogans? We'd love to hear them! Send your suggestions to support@crowdvote.com and we might add them to the collection.

Some favorites include "Real Democracy happens BETWEEN elections!" and "Your term is up when I say it's up!" - they really capture the essence of continuous, responsive representation that CrowdVote enables.