Governance, voting and meetings
Proposals, five voting methods, three ways of deciding who counts, meetings that keep a register and minutes, and a constitution that carries versions.
A decision is only worth the record behind it. This guide covers how a proposal is put, how the count is done, what a meeting needs before it can decide anything, and what a member is asked to accept when they join.
Proposals
Anyone except a gate account can put a proposal. Opening one asks for a title, a description of at least twenty characters, a voting method, a quorum, who decides, a closing time and the options to choose between — plus up to eight supporting documents, held privately and shown on the proposal.
Proposals are grouped by status in the list (Open, Drafts, Passed, Rejected) and can be sorted newest first, oldest first or closing soonest. Drafts are visible only to their author until they are published.
A published proposal is open immediately. The scheduled-opening date on the form is not yet in effect in this release, so if a committee needs the vote to start later, the honest way to run it today is to publish it then.
The five voting methods
The method is chosen per proposal, and it decides what "passed" means. Abstentions never count toward the threshold — they are recorded, they are not a vote either way.
| Method | Passes when | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Simple majority | More than half of the yes-and-no votes are yes | The ordinary case |
| Two-thirds majority | At least two-thirds are yes | Rule changes, special resolutions |
| Three-quarters majority | At least three-quarters are yes | Changes that bind absent owners |
| Unanimous | Every vote cast is yes, with no noes | Anything that needs full consent |
| Plurality | The option with the most votes wins | More than two choices — a shortlist, a colour, a date |
Quorum is a percentage of the eligible voters, computed by the system rather than typed in at the count: if a community has 120 eligible voters and the quorum is 50%, the proposal needs 60 participants before it can be decided at all.
Who decides
This is the question that produces the ugliest arguments in real associations, so it is a setting rather than an assumption. A community has a default, and each proposal can override it.
| Who decides | A resident would say | A trustee would say |
|---|---|---|
| One vote per member | I get one vote, whatever I own | The denominator is a headcount of active memberships |
| One vote per unit | I get a ballot for each parcel I own — three flats, three votes | Only billable parcels with a registered owner who has an account count |
| One vote per unit, weighted by participation quota | My ballot carries the weight of my section, so a bigger section counts for more | Weight is the parcel's PQ; a scheme with no quotas cannot open such a proposal |
On the parcel-based bases, a person votes as an owner. The app checks liability the same way the levy run does — if the system would not bill you for the unit, it will not let you vote with it. An owner of three units sees the ballot stay open until each parcel has voted, and is told which ones are left.
Lifecycle and what you see
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Written, not published, visible only to the author |
| Open for voting | The ballot is live, results update as votes arrive |
| Passed | Decided in favour |
| Rejected | Decided against |
| Quorum not met | Too few people took part for the result to count |
| Expired | The closing time passed without a decision being recorded |
| Cancelled | Withdrawn before a result |
Votes are final. There is no "change my vote", and casting twice is refused with "You have already voted on this proposal."
At the closing time the ballot disappears and the database refuses a late vote ("Voting deadline has passed") whatever the page still shows. Writing the outcome — Passed, Rejected or Quorum not met — is a separate step, and in this release it is not a button on the proposal: a proposal can sit reading "Open for voting" after its deadline with no ballot under it. If you need the formal result on the record, raise a ticket from Settings → Support and tribe.one will close it; the tally is computed from the ballots already cast and cannot then be edited by hand.
The app shows aggregate counts and your own ballot — not a list of who voted how. Be aware that this is a presentation choice, not a technical guarantee: vote records are readable by members of the community at the database level. If your constitution requires a secret ballot, run that part outside the system rather than assuming a secrecy the platform does not claim.
Meetings
A meeting is the record that makes a vote defensible: it was called, notice went out, people came, there was a quorum, the minutes say what was decided. Every one of those steps is a fact the app stores, in this order.
- Convene and give notice. A moderator or admin creates the meeting — kind (AGM, SGM, committee, special), date, venue, quorum and who is counted — then sends the notice, which also moves it to On notice and notifies the whole community. The required notice period is shown for guidance; sending late is not blocked, it is on the record.
- Keep the register. Attendance is recorded as present, present by proxy, apology or absent without apology. Recording the same person twice updates their row rather than inflating the quorum.
- Quorum is computed, never asserted. The denominator comes from the same eligible-voter calculation the proposals use. Under a weighted basis, weights are compared rather than heads. The page says "Quorum met" or "Not yet quorate" as you go.
- Once the register has a name, the basis is frozen. Changing who is counted after attendance exists would change the meaning of the meeting, so it is refused — cancel and convene again.
- Agenda, then minutes. Agenda items are standing items, reports, discussions or resolutions. Minutes are drafted and then approved; approving freezes the text, because an approved minute is the record. A correction becomes a new note, not a silent edit.
- Resolutions become votes. A resolution on a closed and quorate meeting can be put to the vote in one click, which creates and opens a real proposal carrying the meeting's basis and quorum. On a meeting with no quorum the button refuses — the honest outcome is a minute that says why, not a vote that pretends.
Closing a meeting freezes the quorum answer and closes the register. That cannot be undone, which is why the confirmation says so before you press it.
Governing documents
Two documents are tracked as governing: the Constitution and the Terms & Conditions. Publishing is an admin act and always creates a new version — a published version is never edited, because members may already have accepted it. Each publication can carry a "what changed" note, and the document page shows the version history with the current one marked.
The acceptance gate
- First time: a member who has never accepted a document meets a full-screen gate the moment they enter the community — read, tick the box for each document, accept. It happens once.
- After a republish: someone who accepted an older version sees a dismissible banner in the app asking them to review and re-accept. Members who never accepted at all get the gate, not the banner.
- The record: acceptance is stored per person per version, and the act is audited. A community can show who accepted which version and when.
Public share links
Each published version has a share link (/d/<token>) that opens read-only, without an account, and is excluded from search engines. It always points at the version it was created for; an older link warns the reader that a newer version exists. A committee can put the constitution on a noticeboard, in a WhatsApp group or in an email and know the reader sees the actual text.
Design approvals and rule notices
Two housing-community registers that sit beside governance rather than inside it. Neither is a vote, and both keep their whole history.
Design approvals is the alteration register: a member applies (unit, kind of work — building alteration, extension, paint or facade, fence or wall, solar or generator, landscaping, signage — plus plans and photos), and the committee records a decision. The decision can be approved, approved with conditions, or declined with a reason; approvals can carry a validity date, and a lapsed approval is flagged. An approved application cannot be edited — a revised design is a new application.
Rule notices are conduct infringements served on a parcel and naming a person. The notice is issued, the respondent has a reply window, and the decision is locked until that window closes — a committee cannot fine someone who has not had their chance to answer. A fine becomes a one-off charge on the parcel, due in fourteen days, in the same ledger as the levies, which means it also blocks a clearance certificate until it is settled.
Both surfaces show a non-committee member only the applications and notices that concern them or a parcel they own.
Straight answers
Can I change my vote?
No. Votes are immutable by design; the record is the point.
I own three units — how many votes do I get?
One on a per-member proposal, three on a per-unit one. On a weighted proposal your ballots carry each section's participation quota.
Do abstentions help a proposal pass?
No. They are excluded from the yes share. They only matter if the community has chosen to let abstentions count toward quorum.
Can the committee close a vote early?
Not from the app in this release — there is no early-close control, and the closing time cannot be back-dated on an open proposal. The deadline still enforces itself: once it passes, no further votes are accepted. Closing a proposal (which writes the result) is done by tribe.one on request.
Can a resolution be passed at a meeting that was not quorate?
No. The vote refuses unless the meeting is closed and quorate — record the reason in the minutes instead.
Can approved minutes be corrected?
Not by editing. An approved minute cannot have its body changed; a correction is a new, dated note that follows it.
Must I accept the constitution again after it changes?
Yes. A republished version needs re-acceptance, and until you accept the record shows you on the old version.
Can an outsider read our constitution?
Only through a share link the committee chose to create. There is no public listing, and the page is excluded from search engines.