# Stakeholder Quorums and Role-Weighted Voting

#### **6.2.1 Why Quorum Logic Matters in NSF Governance**

NSF DAOs govern:

* Clause validity
* Credential lifecycle
* Simulation acceptance
* Dispute resolution
* Treaty execution

These responsibilities span **multilateral institutions, sovereign states, academic validators, civil society agents, and frontline operators**.

To ensure **trustworthy, representative, and context-aware governance**, each DAO in NSF operates under a **customizable quorum and voting model**—backed by credentials and anchored to roles.

This moves NSF governance beyond 1-token-1-vote into a model of **role-weighted, permissioned, and auditable participation**.

***

#### **6.2.2 Quorum Definition in NSF**

A **quorum** defines:

* The minimum participation required to enact a DAO decision
* The minimum diversity or jurisdictional scope required (e.g., 3 continents)
* Weighting functions for vote power (e.g., per role, stake, credential, or trust score)
* Timeout windows for asynchronous, multilateral votes

Example:

```json
"quorum_policy": {
  "minimum_participants": 7,
  "role_classes_required": ["SimulationExpert", "PublicHealthDAO", "DAOAuditor"],
  "jurisdictional_diversity": ">=3",
  "voting_window": "72h"
}
```

***

#### **6.2.3 Role-Based Voting Eligibility**

Only participants with valid **Verifiable Credentials (VCs)** can vote in NSF DAOs.

Each role is credential-defined:

* `TreatyDelegateVC`
* `DisasterCoordinatorVC`
* `SimulationAuditorVC`
* `DAOAuditorVC`
* `PublicWitnessVC`

These roles can be scoped by:

* Jurisdiction
* Domain (e.g., climate, finance, health)
* Clause family (e.g., only for `FloodRelief@*` clauses)

Credential oracles verify:

* Credential validity
* Revocation status
* Clause compatibility
* Role satisfaction for a given proposal

***

#### **6.2.4 Voting Weights and Role Multipliers**

DAO participants vote using **role-weighted logic**, e.g.:

| Role                       | Weight Multiplier |
| -------------------------- | ----------------- |
| Simulation Model Certifier | 2.0x              |
| DAO Auditor                | 1.5x              |
| Treaty Delegate (non-veto) | 1.2x              |
| Citizen Witness            | 1.0x              |
| Credential Issuer          | 0.75x             |

Each DAO defines its own `role_weight_map`, enforced via governance smart contracts and clause bindings.

These weights can be static or dynamic (e.g., increased if the role was active in the past 30 days).

***

#### **6.2.5 Vote Mechanics and Outcomes**

Votes may follow:

| Mechanism                   | Description                                                    |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Simple Majority**         | More than 50% of total weighted votes                          |
| **Supermajority**           | > 67% required for critical decisions                          |
| **Quadratic Voting**        | Reduces dominance of large stakeholders                        |
| **Reputation-based Voting** | Weight tied to prior audit score or successful clause outcomes |
| **Zero-knowledge Voting**   | Privacy-preserving ballots validated via ZK-SNARKs             |
| **Time-decaying Influence** | Reduces voting weight if a role is idle                        |

Each vote is cryptographically signed, logged, and rolled up with **verifiable quorum proofs** for audit.

***

#### **6.2.6 Delegated Voting and Credential Escrow**

DAO members may:

* Delegate their vote via multisig or `DelegateCredentialVC`
* Escrow their credential for temporary voting authority
* Assign dynamic thresholds (e.g., "only vote YES if simulation forecast > 0.85 risk class")

All delegations are:

* Logged in the Audit Layer
* Time-limited and revocable
* Compatible with ZK-based vote attestations

***

#### **6.2.7 Quorum Failure and Fallback Triggers**

If a quorum is not reached within a vote window:

* The proposal is:
  * Deferred
  * Escalated to an AppealsDAO
  * Resolved by default governance logic (if pre-defined in the clause)
* Fallback logic can be encoded:

```json
"fallback": {
  "if_no_quorum": "revert_to_previous_state",
  "timeout_action": "require public consultation"
}
```

***

#### **6.2.8 Transparent Governance via Voting Audit Trails**

Each DAO vote produces:

* **Credential audit list** (who voted, with what credentials)
* **Weighted tally report**
* **Quorum composition breakdown**
* **Outcome hash**
* **Clause/CAC references**

Audit logs are queryable:

```json
show all ClimateSimDAO votes in Q2-2025 with failed quorum
```

DAO dashboards visualize quorum dynamics, jurisdictional participation, and governance trends.

***

#### **6.2.9 Anti-Capture and Role Rotation Protocols**

To prevent DAO capture:

* Voting roles expire or require re-credentialing
* Role multipliers decay over time without participation
* Watchdog roles (`DAOAuditorVC`) can challenge proposals
* Clause-defined safeguards (e.g., public quorum challenge) can freeze DAO actions

This ensures **adaptive accountability and institutional decentralization**.

***

#### **6.2.10 NSF Governance = Role-Verified, Clause-Bound Institutional Legitimacy**

NSF’s quorum and voting architecture turns DAOs into:

* Verifiable institutions
* Embedded policy engines
* Decentralized yet composable treaty agents

With each vote:

* Backed by cryptographic credentials
* Weighted by role, not capital
* Logged with auditable traceability
* Bound to clauses and execution outcomes

The result: governance that is **programmed, principled, and provable.**
