Voice

Every decision waiting on you across your groups, plus the proposals, polls and issues you can raise, and the proxies you can give and take back.

Where this lives: Manage > Voice

What this is

Voice is where you decide things with your groups.

Three things get raised in a group. A proposal, which is a yes or no question. A poll, which offers a set of answers. An issue, which is a thing to discuss before anyone decides.

Voice also holds proxies. A proxy hands your vote, for a named scope, to somebody you trust.

What you see

The title reads Voice. Above it sits the place you are viewing in, or a line saying decide together.

Under the title runs a one-line summary. It counts what is open, what you have delegated, what has been delegated to you, how many requests are waiting, and what closes today. A count of zero is left out. When everything is zero the line is not drawn.

The wide middle column holds four panels.

Decisions to vote on lists every open proposal and poll across your groups, with whose ballot each one is. Each row shows what share is in favour, how many votes there are, and how long is left.

Where is my voice gives one row per scope, saying whether you vote there yourself or who carries it.

Closing soon lists open ballots by deadline, soonest first.

Issues and proposals holds what is being discussed but not yet decided. Three filters narrow it: All, Issues and In discussion.

The narrow right column holds five panels.

Your voice says in a sentence how many scopes you vote in yourself and how many are delegated, and carries a button to Manage proxies.

Proxy requests lists people asking you to carry their vote, with Accept and Decline on each row.

Delegated to me lists who entrusted you what.

Raise your voice offers a group and three buttons: Raise a proposal, Ask a poll and Report an issue.

Recent outcomes lists decisions that closed, with their result and how your vote was cast.

Ten more panels are registered and switched off. Add any of them from the Add widget list: Your vote history, Proxy activity, Proxy chain, Governance calendar, Decision history, Proxy expirations, Voting power, Participation summary, Quorum watch and My groups' decisions.

The page header carries Add widget and Reset layout. Everything else about a panel is on the panel itself.

What you can do here

• Answer a yes or no question. See Vote on a proposal.
• Answer a question with a set of answers. See Answer a poll.
• Put something to your group. See Raise a proposal, a poll or an issue.
• Give your vote to somebody for a scope. See Hand your vote to somebody.
• Take it back. See Take your vote back.
• Answer somebody who asked for yours. See Answer somebody who asked you to carry their vote.
• Vote yourself on something you had delegated. See Vote yourself on a decision you delegated.

How to

Vote on a proposal

1. Open Voice under Manage.
2. Find the Decisions to vote on panel.
3. Find the row marked Proposal.
4. Press Yes, No or Abstain on that row.
5. A note confirms how you voted.

Answer a poll

1. Open Voice under Manage.
2. Find the Decisions to vote on panel.
3. Find the row marked Poll.
4. Press Answer poll on that row.
5. The group's governance tab opens with the poll ready to answer.

Raise a proposal, a poll or an issue

1. Open Voice under Manage.
2. Find the Raise your voice panel in the right column.
3. Choose the group from the list.
4. Press Raise a proposal, Ask a poll or Report an issue.
5. The group's governance tab opens with the right form ready.

If you belong to no groups, the panel tells you to join one first.

Hand your vote to somebody

1. Open Voice under Manage.
2. Press Manage proxies in the Your voice panel.
3. Find the form headed Delegate a scope.
4. Choose the Group.
5. Choose the Scope. Whole group hands over every decision in that group. One category hands over only one kind of decision.
6. Choose the Category if you picked one category. The list holds the categories that group has filed.
7. Choose the Duration. The choices are: until you take it back, seven days, thirty days, or ninety days.
8. Press Find a proxy under Who. A window opens listing the people you share that group with, in alphabetical order.
9. Search by name if the list is long, then press Choose on the person you want.
10. Press Delegate.

A note confirms the proxy is requested, and says it carries your vote once they accept.

Take your vote back

1. Open Voice under Manage.
2. Press Manage proxies in the Your voice panel.
3. Find the proxy in the Active list, or in Waiting on an answer.
4. Press Take back on that row.
5. A note confirms your vote is yours again.

Either side can end a proxy, so the same control sits on the Voices you carry list.

Answer somebody who asked you to carry their vote

1. Open Voice under Manage.
2. Find the Proxy requests panel in the right column.
3. Read the scope the person is handing over.
4. Press Accept or Decline on that row.

Vote yourself on a decision you delegated

1. Open Voice under Manage.
2. Find the Decisions to vote on panel.
3. A delegated row shows who carries it instead of a ballot, and a button reading Vote anyway.
4. Press Vote anyway. The Yes, No and Abstain buttons appear. Nothing is chosen for you.
5. Press your answer.

Your own vote replaces the proxy on that one decision. The proxy itself stays in place for everything else.

What changes for you

You must be signed in to reach Voice. Nothing on this page is admin only.

You can only delegate a vote you are eligible to cast, and only to somebody who is eligible in the same scope.

A proxy starts as a request. It carries nothing until the other person accepts.

A proxy cannot loop back to you, and a chain of proxies is limited to three steps so everyone can see where a vote ends up.

You can hold only one proxy per scope. Take the old one back before making a new one.

A narrower scope beats a wider one. A category proxy wins over a whole-group proxy for that category.

A proxy carries your weight, not the weight of the person carrying it.

An accepted proxy the holder never uses moves nothing. It is an abstention, not an automatic yes.

Whether a decision needs a minimum turnout is set by whoever raised it, not by Rivr.

Where this connects

• Having a say is the shorter explanation of proposals, polls, issues and proxies.
• A group's page carries the Governance tab where a ballot is actually written.
• Groups is where you join the groups whose decisions land here.