Mindmap
Here's a short description on the role of each major component.
Election Board
The election board is the governing body responsible for overseeing the administration of the elections. Normally, its main duties include:
- Managing Voter Registration: Ensuring that only eligible ZEC holders can participate. This is done through cryptography instead.
- Administering Elections: Organizing and managing the logistics of the process. Running the Election Nodes and the information website if any.
- Counting Votes: Using the software and publishing the results
- Certifying Election Results: Providing the cryptographic proofs and the means to verify them
Voters
- Any Zcash holder can vote with a voting power equal to their holdings.
- Only coins in the Orchard pool at the time of the snapshot are usable.
- Voters cast their votes using an app or their wallet (if it integrates the voting library)
- Individuals may receive additional voting power from the Election Board.
- Voting Power can be delegated, i.e. sent to another user.
INFO
Voting Power has no monetary value and can be only used in a particular election
WARNING
At this time, there is no mechanism to restrict voting to a particular group of users. It may be considered if there is an interest for a model of indirect elections with super representatives.
Blockchain
Most of the data comes from the blockchain. Conceptually, the coin voting considers transaction outputs from Orchard as source of voting power (VP), transaction inputs as a destruction of voting power.
Then at the snapshot height, the blockchain forks and a different "timeline" forms. On this branch, participants trade VP (delegations) and eventually spend it on proposals.
The fork is managed by the Election Board via the Election Node app.
Election Nodes
The Election Node implements the Voting Protocol. It has similar responsibilities to the Zcash full node but without mining, p2p and block schedule.
Via the Election Nodes,
- Voters receive delegated VP
- Voters submit their ballots