📌 Quadratic Voting Summary
Quadratic voting is a method of collective decision-making where people allocate votes not just by choosing a single option, but by buying multiple votes for the issues they care most about. The cost of each extra vote increases quadratically, meaning the second vote costs more than the first, the third more than the second, and so on. This system aims to balance majority rule with minority interests, giving individuals a way to express how strongly they feel about an issue.
🙋🏻♂️ Explain Quadratic Voting Simply
Imagine you have a limited number of tokens to spend on school council decisions. If you care a lot about one decision, you can use more of your tokens to vote for it, but each extra vote costs more tokens than the last. This way, you can show what matters most to you, but you cannot dominate everything without running out of tokens quickly.
📅 How Can it be used?
Quadratic voting can help a community project fairly decide which local improvements to fund based on members’ preferences.
🗺️ Real World Examples
A tech company uses quadratic voting among employees to decide which workplace benefits to add or improve. Each employee gets a set number of credits to allocate to different proposals, and the increasing cost for extra votes means only the most valued ideas get significant support.
A local government pilots quadratic voting for residents to choose which public projects receive funding, allowing citizens to express strong support for projects they care deeply about without letting a small group dominate the decision.
✅ FAQ
What makes quadratic voting different from regular voting?
Quadratic voting lets people show how strongly they feel about an issue by buying extra votes, but each extra vote costs more than the last. This way, someone who cares deeply about a topic can have more influence, while it stops anyone from easily dominating the outcome. It helps balance the wishes of the majority with the intensity of minority opinions.
Why does each extra vote cost more in quadratic voting?
The increasing cost for extra votes is key to making the system fair. If every vote cost the same, people with more resources could simply buy as many votes as they want. By making each additional vote cost more than the one before, quadratic voting encourages people to think carefully about which issues matter most to them and stops a single person from overwhelming the group.
Where could quadratic voting be used in real life?
Quadratic voting could be useful anywhere a group needs to make a decision together, such as community projects, club decisions, or even big policy choices. It is especially handy when some people feel much more strongly about an issue than others, as it gives everyone a fair way to show not just what they want, but how much they care.
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