Loomio

Feature request: liquid democracy

JC Jaimie Cosmia Public Seen by 63

It would be very cool to see Loomio integrate elements of liquid democracy, since calculation makes liquid democracy very difficult to practice offline. The basic idea of liquid democracy is that it allows members of a group to voluntarily delegate their vote to another trusted member, either for all decisions, a particular decision, or specific categories of decision. This allows members to recognize where they are under-informed and can give experts and those with passion to research the issues a bit more influence without giving them ultimate or coercive power. It’s also forgiving of members who have little time or half-hearted interest in participation while still allowing them some representation in the decision-making process. It respects voters’ autonomy because they can at any time choose to suspend their delegation and vote directly or to reassign who they delegate their votes to, without any waiting period or anyone else’s permission. Votes could be conducted in such a way that vote-carriers must cast their votes a certain proportional interval before the deadline, so that members who have delegated their votes always have an opportunity to check how their delegate voted and to instead vote directly if they so desire. This measure would combat any corruption, as would the ability to limit in the group’s settings how many votes any given delegate can carry.

You can find a simple and illuminating explanation of liquid democracy here : https://youtu.be/fg0_Vhldz-8.