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Quadratic Voting and Democratic Innovation: Matching Electoral Systems to Intensity of Preference

A. C. Applebee, L. N. Combe · 2026

Abstract

Contemporary democratic systems rely overwhelmingly on one-person-one-vote (1P1V) mechanisms that treat all preferences as binary and equally weighted, systematically failing to capture the intensity with which citizens hold their views. This paper examines quadratic voting (QV) as a mechanism design innovation that addresses this fundamental limitation by allowing voters to express preference intensity through a voice credit budget subject to quadratic cost scaling. We present the mathematical foundations of QV, demonstrating why the quadratic cost function---rather than linear, cubic, or other polynomial forms---achieves an optimal balance between expressive capacity and resistance to strategic manipulation. Drawing on empirical evidence from Taiwan's vTaiwan digital democracy platform, the Colorado Democratic Caucus, and RadicalxChange organizational experiments, we evaluate QV's performance against alternative electoral innovations including ranked-choice voting, approval voting, liquid democracy, and futarchy. We further propose an integration framework combining QV with Societal Service-Level Objectives (SLOs)---an accountability architecture adapted from site reliability engineering that treats public outcomes as observable, measurable commitments with explicit error budgets and change management protocols.

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