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Voting Policy — Steward Consent and Decision Protocol

Curated by: MJ Ahmad — Steward of Ethical Inheritance
Document Type: Governance Mechanism
Last Updated: October 17, 2025

🧭 Purpose

This policy defines how stewards vote on proposals, ratifications, ethics revisions, and governance changes within the MJ-Ahmad Documentation Hub. Voting is not a contest — it is a traceable act of consent.

🗳️ Voting Eligibility

Role Requirement Description
Activated Steward Must be listed in role-activation.md
Ethics Validated Must have passed nxn-ethics review
Audit-Linked Must have at least one approved artifact with metadata
Charter-Signed Must have agreed to community-charter.md

🔄 Voting Process

Step Description
Proposal submitted Artifact or policy proposed with metadata and audit hash
Voting window opened Minimum 72 hours for steward review and consent
Votes recorded Logged in ratified-actions.md with steward attribution
Ethics check Majority must pass nxn-ethics validation
Result ratified Outcome logged in audit/change-log.json and ratification-process.md

✅ Voting Criteria

  • Each vote must be traceable to a steward
  • Each vote must include rationale or glossary-linked consent
  • Each vote must be logged with timestamp and audit hash
  • No anonymous or prestige-based votes allowed
  • Abstentions must be documented with reason

🛡️ Ethical Boundaries

  • No steward may vote on their own artifact without peer review
  • No vote may override ethics validation
  • No decision may be ratified without audit traceability
  • No steward may be excluded from voting without cause

🔐 Licensing

All voting actions are governed by the Ethical Inheritance License. Consent must be earned, not assumed.

“Let every vote be a traceable act of care — not a contest of control.”
— MJ Ahmad