Most constitutions are written on paper. Ours is built into the app.
A normal constitution says what should happen, then counts on judges to step in when someone breaks the rules, often years later. Our rules are part of the app every member uses. The app simply won't let anyone break them, and if someone tries to change things behind the scenes, every copy of the record shows it.
Paper and judges, or rules that enforce themselves.
A usual constitution
The rules are written down. On paper, in a binder.
People in charge are trusted to follow them. Nothing stops them from doing otherwise.
If someone breaks a rule, a judge decides. That takes money, lawyers and time.
The rule wins only after the damage is done.
Our constitution
The rules are built into the app. Every member's app has the same rules.
The app won't let anyone break them. There's no button to expel a member, change a vote or skip a step.
Members keep copies of everything. A change made in one place won't match the others, so everyone can see it.
The rule holds from the start, and nobody needs a lawyer.
What the constitution says, and how the app makes it happen.
Members are the final say.
Every decision is made by a member vote. No leader, board or office can overrule it.
In the app: there's no admin button that overrides a vote. A result is worked out by every member's app from the votes themselves.
Nobody can be pushed out.
No one can expel a member. Joining is an agreement: a member who doesn't keep the responsibilities in this constitution gives up their own membership. That's a condition everyone agreed to, not a punishment.
In the app: there's no way to remove a member, not even for the party. Today the one responsibility is voting on required votes. Miss one and you sit out for 72 hours.
Only the people who elect someone can remove them.
Anyone elected can be recalled at any time, but only by the members who elected them.
Coming In the app: elections and recalls are built and switched on once members start electing leads. Only the members who could vote in an election will see its recall vote.
Everything is public, except how you voted.
Every proposal, result and party message is public. There's no inner circle and no private channel. Your own ballot is secret.
In the app: anyone can read the whole record. Ballots are cast with a separate voting key that nobody can trace back to you, not even the party.
One member, one vote.
Every member gets exactly one vote on each question, and nobody can vote for you or change your vote.
In the app: your phone signs your vote with your key before it leaves. Every three months each member gets one voting stamp, so a second ballot won't count.
Neighborhoods decide first.
Members belong to the neighborhood they live in. Each neighborhood sets up to 10 principles of its own, then can send one to all of BC.
In the app: BC is split into about 120 neighborhoods (the app calls them grids). The charts below show how a proposal becomes a decision.
No fees, ever.
Membership is free. Your voice doesn't depend on your wallet.
In the app: there's no payment anywhere. The party pays only for its website.
No off switch.
The record isn't kept in one place, so no one can shut the party down or lose its history.
In the app: members run computers called hosts that each keep a full copy. Anyone can run one, on any computer.
During the beta, two waits are switched off so people can try everything: new members can vote right away (normally after 72 hours), and neighborhoods can vote with fewer than 20 members.
Supporters first, then a vote, all in 72 hours.
Any member can propose a principle. Each proposal has 72 hours in total. In that time it needs enough supporters to go to a full vote, and a majority to pass.
Results stay hidden until at least 5 people have voted, so nobody can work out how a small group voted.
How much support a proposal needs
5% of the neighborhood, and never fewer than 5 people (or everyone, in a smaller neighborhood).
Sending a principle to all of BC
Two steps. Both need more than half, and at least 5 neighborhoods must take part.
If the neighborhood that sent it rewords or removes the principle, the BC-wide vote is cancelled.
Power is split up, and most of it belongs to members.
| Propose and vote | Keep copies of the record | Let new members in | Change the party's settings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MembersEveryone who joined | ||||
| HostsComputers anyone can run | ||||
| RegistrarsA few computers the party runs | ||||
| The party keyOne secret key, kept offline |
After the beta, registrars will check each new member's ID, so every member is one real person. During the beta they let everyone in. The party key decides which registrars count and sets things like how long a vote lasts.
What nobody can do, not even the party
No system is perfect. Here's where ours could fail.
We'd rather you hear it from us than find it later.
Whoever holds the party key can change things.
The party key can choose the registrars and change the party's settings. If the wrong person got it, they could let in fake members, who could then outvote real ones.
What protects you: everything the key signs is public, so a change can't be hidden. The key is kept on paper and never on a computer that's always online. Below is the plan to hand it over.
Registrars decide who gets in.
A registrar could let in people who shouldn't be members, or keep out people who should.
What protects you: every approval is public and signed by the registrar that made it. A bad registrar can be removed, and every app stops trusting it.
The rules are only as good as the app.
Since the app is the constitution, whoever writes the app writes the rules. Today, changing a rule means releasing a new version of the app.
What protects you: the app's code will be public at launch, so anyone can read it and check that it does what this page says.
The website could go away.
citizensparty.ca is where new members get the app and where apps first find the hosts. A web address can be lost or forgotten.
What protects you: apps and hosts already know each other without it, and both can be pointed at a new address.
The plan: hand the key to people who answer to the members.
The founder holds it
Written on paper and kept in a safe. Used only to sign the party's settings, never left on a phone or a computer that's always on.
Law firms hold it in trust
One or more law firms keep the key on behalf of the members. They use it only to carry out what the members vote for.
Members can start over
If the key is ever misused, members don't need the key holder's permission to carry on. See below.
If something goes badly wrong.
The party's whole record is public and copied many times, and the app's code will be public too. Members always have what they need to set the party up again.
Today, by a new version of the app.
For now, the rules change when the party releases a new version of the app. The code will be public, so anyone can see exactly what changed and when.