Voting Strategies

Voting strategies determine how much weight each voter's vote carries. When you create a proposal, you pick one strategy that defines the rules. Every vote on that proposal is then weighted according to that strategy before results are calculated.

If no strategy is explicitly selected, Vora defaults to One Person, One Vote — every voter has equal weight.

Quick Comparison

Strategy
How It Works
Complexity
Best For

One Person, One Vote

Every voter gets exactly 1 vote with equal weight

Simple

Simple A/B decisions, fair and transparent votes

Multiple Vote (Passion)

Voters can vote multiple times on the same proposal

Medium

Feature prioritization, measuring intensity

Group-Based Power

Weight comes from Voter Group membership

Medium

Giving loyal or VIP customers more influence

Tenure/Seniority Based

Weight increases with membership duration

Medium

Rewarding long-term community members

Engagement Score Based

Weight scales with user engagement activity

Medium

Rewarding active participants

Role-Based Tiers

Admin-defined weight per organizational role

Advanced

Hierarchical governance, board vs. member voting

Quadratic (Anti-Whale)

Square root of group power — diminishing returns

Advanced

Preventing any single voter from dominating results


One Person, One Vote

The simplest strategy. Every voter gets exactly 1 vote with a weight of 1.0, regardless of group membership, tenure, or any other factor.

Formula: weight = 1

Parameters: None — this strategy has no configuration options.

When to use it:

  • You want maximum fairness — every customer counts equally.

  • Simple yes/no or A/B decisions where all opinions matter equally.

  • You are just getting started with Vora and want the simplest setup.

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This is the default strategy. If you create a proposal without selecting a strategy, Vora will use One Person, One Vote.


Multiple Vote (Passion)

Allows voters to cast multiple votes on the same proposal. Each vote is a separate action — voters can spread votes across different choices or concentrate them on a single choice to express strong preference.

This is sometimes called "passion voting" because it lets voters signal how strongly they feel about an option.

Formula: weight per vote = weight_per_vote setting

Parameters:

Parameter
Description
Default
Range

Max Votes per User

How many times each user can vote on this proposal

10

2 – 100

Weight per Vote

How much each individual vote counts toward the final tally

1.0

0.1 – 10

Track Passion Score

Record analytics about how users concentrate their votes

On

On / Off

When to use it:

  • Feature prioritization — let customers allocate votes across features to show relative importance.

  • Measuring intensity — learn which options voters feel most strongly about, not just which option has the most supporters.

  • Brainstorming rounds — when you have many options and want to narrow down the top picks.

Example: A fashion brand creates a proposal with 6 potential new colors. Each customer gets 5 votes. A customer who loves "Ocean Blue" can put all 5 votes on it, while another customer may spread their votes across 3 colors.

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Group-Based Power

Voting weight is determined by the voter's Voter Group membership. Each Voter Group has a configurable voting_power value (set in Member Management > Groups). When a user who belongs to a group votes, their weight equals their group's voting power.

Formula: Depends on the Multi-Group Mode when a user belongs to multiple groups:

  • Use Highest Power (default) — weight = max(group_powers)

  • Sum All Powersweight = sum(group_powers)

  • Average Powersweight = average(group_powers)

Parameters:

Parameter
Description
Default
Options

Fallback Weight

Weight for users who are not a member of any group

1.0

0 – 100

Multi-Group Mode

How to calculate weight when a user belongs to multiple groups

Use Highest Power

Use Highest Power / Sum All Powers / Average Powers

When to use it:

  • Tiered membership programs — Gold members get 5x the voting power of Silver members.

  • VIP customer segments — give top-spending customers more influence.

  • Partner and team voting — internal stakeholders get different weight than external customers.

Example: Your organization has three groups:

  • "VIP Customers" with voting power 5

  • "Regular Customers" with voting power 1

  • "Brand Ambassadors" with voting power 3

With Use Highest Power mode: a user who is both a VIP Customer and a Brand Ambassador votes with weight 5 (the highest). With Sum All Powers mode, the same user would vote with weight 8 (5 + 3).

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Set the Fallback Weight to 0 if you want only group members to be able to vote. Users without any group membership will have zero voting power and their votes won't affect results.


Tenure/Seniority Based

Voting weight grows over time based on how long the member has been registered. New members start with a base weight, and it increases with each year of membership up to a configurable maximum.

Formula: weight = base_weight + (years_as_member x yearly_bonus), capped at max_weight

Parameters:

Parameter
Description
Default
Range

Base Weight

Starting voting weight for all users, regardless of tenure

1.0

0.1 – 10

Yearly Bonus

Additional weight gained for each full year of membership

0.5

0.1 – 5

Max Weight

Cap on voting weight to prevent excessive influence

5.0

1 – 100

When to use it:

  • Rewarding loyalty — customers who have been with you for years get a stronger voice.

  • Community maturity — experienced members are more likely to understand the context of decisions.

  • Retention incentive — gives members a reason to stay engaged long-term.

Example: With the default settings (base = 1.0, bonus = 0.5/year, max = 5.0):

Member Since
Years
Weight Calculation
Final Weight

Today

0

1.0 + (0 x 0.5) = 1.0

1.0

1 year ago

1

1.0 + (1 x 0.5) = 1.5

1.5

3 years ago

3

1.0 + (3 x 0.5) = 2.5

2.5

8 years ago

8

1.0 + (8 x 0.5) = 5.0

5.0

12 years ago

12

1.0 + (12 x 0.5) = 7.0 → cap

5.0


Engagement Score Based

Voting weight scales with the user's engagement score — a value from 0 to 10 that Vora tracks based on how actively a member participates (voting on proposals, submitting ideas, visiting the platform, etc.).

Formula: weight = base_weight + (engagement_score / 10 x score_multiplier)

Parameters:

Parameter
Description
Default
Range

Base Weight

Starting voting weight for all users

1.0

0.1 – 10

Score Multiplier

Multiplier applied to the normalized engagement score

2.0

0.5 – 10

When to use it:

  • Rewarding active participants — voters who regularly engage with your community carry more weight.

  • Discouraging drive-by voting — casual visitors who never engage get minimal influence.

  • Gamification synergy — engagement score ties directly into Vora's gamification and XP systems.

Example: With default settings (base = 1.0, multiplier = 2.0):

User
Engagement Score
Weight Calculation
Final Weight

Inactive user

0.0

1.0 + (0.0/10 x 2.0) = 1.0

1.0

Casual voter

3.0

1.0 + (3.0/10 x 2.0) = 1.6

1.6

Regular member

6.0

1.0 + (6.0/10 x 2.0) = 2.2

2.2

Power user

10.0

1.0 + (10.0/10 x 2.0) = 3.0

3.0

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Engagement score updates automatically based on user activity. You can view each member's current score in the Member Management section.


Role-Based Tiers

Define exact voting weights for specific roles in your organization. You map each role (identified by Voter Group name) to a fixed weight value. This gives you precise control over governance hierarchies.

Formula: weight = tier_weights[matched_role] or default_weight if no role matches

The system checks each of the voter's group memberships against the configured role tiers and uses the highest matching weight.

Parameters:

Parameter
Description
Default

Role Weight Config

Map of role names to voting weights

founder = 10, board_member = 5, advisor = 3, member = 1

Default Weight

Weight for users with no matching role

1.0

Role Source

Where to look up roles (Group Name or User Metadata)

Group Name

When to use it:

  • Board governance — board members get 5x weight, advisors get 3x, regular members get 1x.

  • Hierarchical organizations — different organizational levels have different decision-making power.

  • Custom role structures — define any role-weight mapping that fits your organization.

How role matching works:

When Role Source is set to Group Name (default), Vora checks the voter's Voter Group memberships against your configured role names. The match is exact — the group name must match the role name precisely (case-insensitive).

For example, if you configure a tier for "board_member", only users in a group named exactly "board_member" will receive that weight. Users in a group called "board_member_emeritus" will not match.

Example configuration:

Role (Group Name)
Weight

founder

10.0

board_member

5.0

advisor

3.0

member

1.0

A user who belongs to both the "advisor" and "member" groups would vote with weight 3.0 (the highest match).

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Quadratic Group Power (Anti-Whale)

An anti-whale mechanism that applies square root scaling to group-based voting power. This gives a diminishing return to high-power voters — doubling your group power does not double your voting weight.

This prevents any single large stakeholder from dominating decisions while still recognizing their greater contribution.

Formula: weight = sqrt(group_power) x coefficient, bounded between floor_weight and ceiling_weight

Parameters:

Parameter
Description
Default
Range

Coefficient

Multiplier applied after the square root calculation

1.0

0.1 – 5

Minimum Weight

Floor — no voter can have less than this weight

1.0

0 – 10

Maximum Weight

Ceiling — no voter can have more than this weight

10.0

1 – 100

Fallback Weight

Weight for users with no group membership

1.0

0 – 10

When to use it:

  • Preventing domination — large token holders or high-power group members shouldn't be able to override the majority.

  • Fair representation — still rewards higher contribution, but with diminishing returns.

  • DAO-style governance — common in decentralized governance models.

Example: With default settings (coefficient = 1.0, floor = 1.0, ceiling = 10.0):

Group Power
Calculation
Final Weight

1

sqrt(1) x 1 = 1.0

1.0

4

sqrt(4) x 1 = 2.0

2.0

25

sqrt(25) x 1 = 5.0

5.0

100

sqrt(100) x 1 = 10.0

10.0

400

sqrt(400) x 1 = 20.0 → cap

10.0

Notice: a user with 100x the group power of another user only gets 10x the voting weight (not 100x). That's the anti-whale effect.

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This strategy reads group power from Voter Groups, just like the Group-Based Power strategy. The difference is the square-root scaling. Make sure your groups have meaningful voting power values configured in Member Management > Groups.


Choosing the Right Strategy

Not sure which strategy to pick? Here are some common scenarios:

Your Situation
Recommended Strategy

Simple poll, everyone's opinion matters equally

One Person, One Vote

Feature prioritization with many options

Multiple Vote (Passion)

VIP or tiered membership program

Group-Based Power

Want to reward customers who've been with you for years

Tenure/Seniority Based

Want to reward customers who actively participate

Engagement Score Based

Board vs. member governance with defined roles

Role-Based Tiers

Tiered membership but want to prevent whales from dominating

Quadratic Group Power

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You can change the strategy on a proposal only before the first vote is cast. Once voting begins, the strategy is locked to ensure fairness.

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