Secret Ballots

A secret ballot hides who voted how from the other members. It is part of a proposal's rule: the DAO's voting rules set it for changes to the DAO, and a proposer sets it for a decision or a choice.

What Members See

	Open ballot	Secret ballot
The totals (yes, no, abstain, each option)	Yes	Once it is decided
Your own vote	Yes	Yes
Who else voted, and how	Yes	No
How many members voted	Yes	Once it is decided

On a secret ballot, the ballot list shows Secret ballot. You see only your own vote. and then your own ballot, if you cast one. Where the totals would be, the page says Secret ballot. The totals are shown once the vote is decided., and the DAO's proposal list says secret ballot instead of how many voted: totals that moved with each ballot would tell who voted how. Readers of a public DAO see only the totals, and on a secret ballot only once it is decided.

What It Does Not Hide

A secret ballot is secret in the app, not on the ledger. Each ballot is still a contract signed by you and the app, and it stays on the ledger after it is counted.

• The app sees every ballot. It counts them, so it has to. The app's operator can read who voted how.
• The app's validator stores every ballot, as it stores every contract of every DAO it hosts.
• Ballots cast before 25 September 2026 carry the DAO creator's signature too, so a creator who hosts their party on a validator of their own could obtain those. Ballots cast since are signed by the voter and the app only.
• The final totals can give votes away. In a small DAO, or when only a few members voted, the totals shown after the decision may show how someone voted.

Turning It On

• For changes to the DAO: tick Secret ballot in the DAO's voting rules when you create the DAO, or pass a Voting rules proposal that sets it.
• For a decision or a choice: open Customize ballot and rule in the proposal form and tick Secret ballot.

A proposal keeps the ballot it opened with, whatever the DAO's rules say later.