What Is Quadratic Voting?
Quadratic voting is a governance mechanism where voting power scales with the square root of tokens held — not linearly. A worker with 100 tokens gets 10 votes. A worker with 10,000 tokens gets 100 votes, not 10,000. This prevents wealthy or dominant workers from controlling decisions while still rewarding contribution.
Why It Matters for Worker Cooperatives
| Voting Method | Problem | Quadratic Fix | |--------------|---------|---------------| | One person, one vote | Doesn't reward contribution | Contribution earns more votes | | Linear (1 token = 1 vote) | Whales dominate | Square root dampens whales | | Quadratic voting | Balanced | Most active have influence, collective retains power |
How Empreenda Uses It
A biscateiro who completed 200 biscates, mentored 5 apprentices, and served on 10 tribunals has earned ~500 EMP tokens. Under linear voting, they'd have 500 votes. Under quadratic: √500 ≈ 22 votes. A new worker with 25 tokens gets √25 = 5 votes. The ratio drops from 20:1 to 4.4:1 — influence without domination.
The Innovation
No African cooperative or platform uses quadratic voting for informal workers. This is governance engineering applied to economic inclusion.
Read more: DAO governance in Africa | Worker-owned vs investor-owned | Decentralized employment