# Voting Power

Source: https://docs.settlemint.com/docs/architecture/components/token-features/voting-power
Delegated voting with historical tracking on DALPAsset. Enables on-chain governance participation compatible with Governor contracts. Requires holder delegation to activate voting weight.



**Purpose:** Voting Power adds delegated voting with historical tracking to DALPAsset tokens. Token holders must explicitly delegate their voting weight (to themselves or another address) to participate in governance.

* **Doc type:** Reference
* **What you'll find here:** Business impact, risks, controls, failure modes, auditability, dependencies, and ordering notes
* **Related:**
  * [Token Features Catalog](/docs/architecture/components/token-features)
  * [Asset Contracts](/docs/architecture/components/asset-contracts)
  * [Historical Balances](/docs/architecture/components/token-features/historical-balances)

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## Interface (capabilities) [#interface-capabilities]

This feature exposes the following capabilities. Holders must explicitly delegate their voting weight before it becomes active — undelegated tokens carry no governance power.

| Capability                     | Who can call                  | Inputs                              | On-chain effect                                         | Emits                                     | Notes                                    |
| ------------------------------ | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| Delegate voting power          | Token holder                  | Delegatee address (self or another) | Assigns holder's voting weight to delegatee             | `DelegateChanged`, `DelegateVotesChanged` | Must delegate before governance snapshot |
| Delegate by signature          | Anyone (with valid signature) | Signed delegation parameters        | Assigns voting weight without holder gas                | `DelegateChanged`, `DelegateVotesChanged` | Gasless via EIP-712                      |
| Record checkpoints on transfer | Automatic (hook)              | Triggered on mint, burn, transfer   | Updates voting power checkpoints for affected delegates | `DelegateVotesChanged`                    | Only affects delegated balances          |

Current and historical voting power, past total supply, and delegation status are available as read-only queries.

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## Business impact [#business-impact]

* **Holders:** Voting power equals token balance at the time of a governance snapshot, but only if the holder has delegated (to themselves or another address). Undelegated tokens have no voting weight.
* **Issuer / governance:** Enables on-chain governance contracts (e.g., OpenZeppelin Governor) to query voting power at any historical block. Governance proposals can require quorum relative to total delegated power.
* **Economics:** No token movement. Purely governance-additive.

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## Risks & abuse cases [#risks--abuse-cases]

* **Low participation from non-delegation:** If holders do not call `delegate()`, their tokens have no voting power. Governance quorum may be difficult to reach. Onboarding flows should prompt delegation.
* **Delegation to a single address:** If many holders delegate to one address, that address gains outsized governance power. Monitor delegation concentration.
* **Flash loan governance attacks:** Without a snapshot-based quorum mechanism in the governance contract, a flash loan could temporarily inflate delegated power at proposal creation. Ensure governance contract uses snapshot blocks.

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## Controls & guardrails [#controls--guardrails]

| Role                                               | Actions                                                        | Recommended guardrail                            |
| -------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| Holders                                            | `delegate(address)` — delegate voting power to self or another | Prompt at onboarding; remind undelegated holders |
| No on-chain governance role for the feature itself | Feature has no `GOVERNANCE_ROLE` or `CUSTODIAN_ROLE` actions   | —                                                |

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## Failure modes & edge cases [#failure-modes--edge-cases]

* **Transfer before delegation:** A holder who transfers tokens before delegating has never had active voting power — no retroactive delegation occurs.
* **Delegation after snapshot:** Delegating after a governance snapshot block is too late for that proposal. Delegation must be in place at the snapshot block.
* **Checkpoint bloat:** High-frequency transfer tokens accumulate many checkpoints per holder. This is expected behavior but increases on-chain storage over time.

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## Auditability & operational signals [#auditability--operational-signals]

* `DelegateChanged(delegator, fromDelegate, toDelegate)` — emitted on delegation change.
* `DelegateVotesChanged(delegate, previousBalance, newBalance)` — emitted on vote balance change (transfer, mint, burn with delegation active).
* Historical checkpoints queryable at any block — governance contracts use these for proposal snapshot queries.

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## Dependencies [#dependencies]

* No external dependencies.
* Compatible with Historical Balances — both use checkpoints independently.
* Requires governance contract integration (e.g., OpenZeppelin Governor or equivalent) to have utility.

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## Compatibility & ordering notes [#compatibility--ordering-notes]

* `supportsRewriting = false` — no amount modification.
* Order last in the feature array (after fee features). This ensures delegation snapshots reflect post-fee balances.
* Compatible with all other features. No ordering conflicts beyond the general "analytics last" convention.

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## Change impact [#change-impact]

* **Enable after launch:** Historical delegation state starts from activation. Pre-activation transfer history does not generate checkpoint entries.
* **Disable:** Voting power queries stop working. Any active governance proposals that referenced this token's voting power at a past block will still resolve (checkpoints remain on-chain), but future governance is blocked.
* **No configuration to change** — feature has no GOVERNANCE\_ROLE parameters.

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## See also [#see-also]

* [Token Features Catalog](/docs/architecture/components/token-features) — return to the full feature catalog
* [Historical Balances](/docs/architecture/components/token-features/historical-balances) — companion snapshot feature
* [Asset Contracts](/docs/architecture/components/asset-contracts) — role model and deployment architecture