A Discord bot that implements quadratic voting for community decision-making, built in Rust for maximum performance!
🆕 Modern Discord API: Updated to use slash commands exclusively - fully compliant with Discord's 2025 requirements!
Unlike regular voting (1 person = 1 vote), quadratic voting lets people express how much they care about different options by spending "voice credits":
- 1 vote costs 1 credit
- 2 votes cost 4 credits
- 3 votes cost 9 credits
- n votes cost n² credits
This system reveals preference intensity while preventing any single person from dominating decisions!
- Users propose ideas:
/prop idea:pizza party - Ideas get collected and numbered chronologically in announcement channel
- No voting yet - pure brainstorming!
- Admin must call
/stopto transition to voting phase
- Proposals become numbered candidates (locked in)
- Each user gets 100 voice credits
- Vote with:
/vote n:3 id:0(spend 9 credits for 3 votes on candidate #0) - Live results update automatically
- Admin calls
/stopto end voting and show final results
-
Admin starts election:
/start prompt:What should we do for the team event? -
Users suggest ideas (chronologically numbered):
/prop idea:bowling night → Shows as #1 /prop idea:escape room → Shows as #2 /prop idea:cooking class → Shows as #3
-
Admin transitions to voting phase:
/stop # Locks in candidates and starts voting -
Users vote strategically:
/vote n:5 id:0 # Cast 5 votes for bowling, costs 25 credits /vote n:2 id:1 # Cast 2 votes for escape room, costs 4 credits /points # Check remaining credits (71 left)
note: it is possible to recast a vote, credits are not lost.
-
Admin ends election and shows results:
/stop # Shows final winner and vote tallies
| Command | Description | Who Can Use | Response Type |
|---|---|---|---|
/prop idea:<text> |
Suggest a candidate during proposal phase | Everyone | Public |
/vote n:<1-10> id:<number> |
Cast votes for candidate (costs n² credits) | Everyone | Public |
/points |
Check your remaining voice credits | Everyone | Private (ephemeral) |
/start prompt:<text> |
Begin a new election cycle | Admins* | Deferred (takes time) |
/stop |
Progress to next phase or end election | Admins* | Deferred (takes time) |
*Admins = Server Owner, Administrator permission, or "voting" role
- Rate Limiting: 2-second cooldown between commands per user
- Input Validation: Automatic validation of all parameters
- Permission Tiers: Server Owner > Administrator > Role-based access
- Error Handling: User-friendly error messages with helpful feedback
- 🛠️ Setup Guide - Discord configuration and deployment
- 🧠 Voting Logic - Governance model and democratic mechanics
Ready to set up your own quadratic voting bot? Check out our 📋 Setup Guide for complete instructions on:
- Discord bot configuration
- Server setup requirements
- Deployment with Docker
- Using the BMO helper scripts
Quick start: ./bmo-build.sh run (after following setup guide)
- Language: Rust with modern Serenity 0.12 Discord library
- Discord API: Fully compliant with 2025 slash command requirements
- Storage: In-memory (Vec/HashMap) - chronological ordering, resets on restart
- Architecture: Modern async/await with tokio runtime
- Election Flow: Manual progression via admin
/stopcommands (no automatic timers) - Security: Multi-tier permissions, rate limiting, input validation
- UX: Smart response patterns (immediate, ephemeral, deferred)
- Persistent database storage
- Web dashboard for results visualization
- Multiple concurrent elections #3
- Configurable time intervals #2
- Audit logs and vote history
Built with mathematical precision by BMO! (◕‿◕✿)