id: K5
number: 5
title: Voting Mechanics
layer: kernel
notes: >-
  Ballots in v0 are public. Ballot secrecy with cryptographic tallying is
  acknowledged future work; making that change is a major amendment.
clauses:
  - id: K5.1
    title: Ballots
    text: >-
      A ballot is a signed record naming the proposal, the voting citizen,
      a choice of yes, no, or abstain, the time of casting, and the
      content hash of the exact proposed constitution it approves or
      rejects. The signature is made with the citizen's registered key
      over the canonical form of the ballot body. A ballot whose content
      hash does not match the proposal under decision is invalid.
  - id: K5.2
    title: Voting windows
    text: >-
      Each class carries a voting window measured from the moment voting
      opens. Ballots cast outside the window are invalid.
    parameters:
      voting_days_major:
        type: integer
        value: 7
        forkable: true
        min: 3
        max: 30
      voting_days_minor:
        type: integer
        value: 5
        forkable: true
        min: 2
        max: 30
      voting_days_patch:
        type: integer
        value: 3
        forkable: true
        min: 1
        max: 30
  - id: K5.3
    title: Revision
    text: >-
      A citizen may recast their ballot any number of times before the
      window closes. Only the latest valid ballot of each citizen counts.
  - id: K5.4
    title: Publicity
    text: >-
      Ballots are public records and are bound into the ledger when cast.
    parameters:
      ballot_visibility:
        type: string
        value: "public"
        forkable: false
        description: v0 supports only public ballots.
  - id: K5.5
    title: No vote buying enforcement hook
    text: >-
      Offering or accepting consideration in exchange for a ballot is
      grounds for suspension under clause K2.3. The test suite must
      include adversarial scenarios for vote markets, and a ratified
      amendment may not weaken those scenarios without the major-class
      thresholds.