Representative voting takes place on the Aragon app

Delegates voting takes place in real time on the Aragon app! You can now delegate your voting rights to another address to vote on your behalf. If you would like to claim your right to vote, you can do so at any time within the app. This can be used in any token-based DAO.

Proxy voting, a form of liquid democracy, involves delegating your voting power to another person to vote on your behalf.

Delegated voting is a common governance choice for DAOs. It’s difficult to maintain context on every decision that happens in an organization, so it’s helpful to delegate proposals and governance to someone who can keep up.

Being able to refuse to delegate is just as important as choosing to delegate. You can change your delegation at any time in the Aragon app. And there is no need to delegate it to someone else. You can claim your vote and exercise your right to vote on every proposal! Delegated voting gives token holders the choice of representative or direct democracy.

Improved decision-making within DAO

Not all token holders have time to keep up with all the discussions and new conversations happening in the DAO. Delegation allows token holders to choose experts to vote on their behalf, relieving them of the burden of numerous governance choices.

Decision-making can be improved because instead of every token holder being involved in everything, decisions can be made by a small group of individuals with specific expertise.

“Aragon DAO members can now delegate their voting power to other members with deep knowledge or experience in a specific field, allowing the DAO to make more informed and efficient decisions.”

—Ruggero, senior front-end developer at Aragon

This is especially important for protocol DAOs, which are DAOs that manage smart contract protocols such as rollups, liquid staking derivatives, or decentralized exchanges. Token holders often need to maintain important context about protocol DAO votes because votes directly change the contract. This means that voters must be able to read smart contract code or have a technical understanding of what is happening to be able to cast an informed vote. Delegation can solve this problem. This is because token holders can delegate their votes to representatives who have this additional context.

Token holders can reclaim them at any time and hold their representatives accountable.

Representatives do not have unconfirmed powers. Token holders are accountable from token holders because they can claim their voting rights at any time. We don’t have to wait for an election to do that. If the delegate does not best serve the token holder’s interests, the token holder can revoke the token delegation and start voting on their own or delegate it to someone else.

Strengthening DAO security with increased token participation

Delegation can increase token participation. This is because DAO members who missed or intentionally skipped a vote because they did not have enough context for the proposal can make an informed expert vote.

Increasing token participation increases the security of the DAO because it becomes more difficult for individuals or organized groups to purchase tokens and pass on proposals unilaterally. The more tokens participate, the more secure the DAO becomes.

Lower gas costs due to integrated voting

Bundling votes together saves money on gas because not everyone has to vote. For example, instead of 50 members each casting their vote and everyone paying, only 10 delegates can vote. Having more votes does not increase gas costs, so it can help DAO members save on gas costs they otherwise would otherwise have to pay.

Delegate current and future voting rights to any address

Go to “Governance” and click “Delegate” to delegate your current and future voting rights to another address. So, as you purchase or receive more governance tokens, their voting rights will be delegated to a new address until you claim them. Only full voting rights can be delegated; the delegation cannot be split.

Delegate proposal writing authority

If the DAO has a token gate for who can create proposals (e.g., creating a proposal requires holding one token), then the right to create proposals is also delegated to the new address. To regain the ability to write a proposal, you must request a vote.

Claim your right to vote at any time

You can claim your vote at any time, but if you do so during a live proposal, you will not be able to vote until a new proposal is created. This is because a snapshot of voting power is taken at the start of each proposal.

Delegation does not require permission. There is no process to become an agent.

With the Aragon app you don’t need to be an agent. Your address is already eligible for delegation. So how do you spread the word to other DAO members who want to delegate? Let other DAO members know that you are interested in receiving delegates by giving them your address! You can post your address in DAO moderation channels such as forums, Discord, and Telegram chat. Or reach out to the wider world by posting on social media or creating a flagship website.

You retain control of your tokens. Delegates cannot access or sub-delegate your tokens.

Meta-delegation is not allowed, so delegates cannot delegate tokens to anyone else. If you sell or transfer tokens, your proxy’s voting power will be reduced by the amount you sold or transferred. Purchasing more tokens increases the delegate’s voting power by the amount purchased.

Find out how to delegate your voting rights in the guide below.

Next: Agent Profile

The next thing that will come up in the app is the agent profile. Because agents make decisions for the organization, it is important to carefully decide who to choose as your agent. You don’t want DAO members to delegate only to familiar faces or popular DAO members. It’s best to choose people who actually have the context they need to make the best decisions for the organization.

Stay tuned for our profile that will show you more details about who your agent is!

All token-based DAOs can delegate tokens. Then get started today! Go to the governance page of the Aragon app to delegate voting rights to another address. Or check out this guide to learn more about delegation.