:: Frequently Asked Questions About GlobalVote

Everyone interested can cast their vote. The first 100 will be Virtual Parliament members while the next 100 will be General Voters. A National parliament of 100 members will be created for the 192 member states of the UN, creating a voting community of 19,200 people. All enrollment (parliament members and general voters) is done through the GlobalVote website. Anyone can enroll in the parliament of his or her nationality, but membership of the first group of 100 voters is determined on a representational basis that takes into consideration gender, age, education, religion and residence. Every national parliament has a board of 3 members (seats 1 to 3), who assembles their parliament’s remaining 97 seats. The GV Secretariat will periodically review the formation of each national parliament.

GlobalVote is an innovative, internet-based democratic tool that enhances the principles of democracy in this era of globalization, through shadow voting and polling systems. GlobalVote aims to take advantage of the global link provided by the internet by putting in place a fair and proper voting system for assessing global public opinion. Our objective is to allow people from around the world to vote and voice opinion on global issues, particularly those issues under consideration by the UN and similar international organizations. Results of the GlobalVote will be used to stimulate discussions on global decision making but will also produce statistical data to assist current decision makers.

In order to obtain reliable statistical data, we need to collect demographic information from our members. Those wishing to enroll will be required to provide information pertaining to their nationality, residence (country, state and city), gender, age, religion, profession, and level of education.

Yes, the minimum voting age is 18. There is no maximum voting age.

National parliament members are chosen on a representational basis according to gender, age, education, religion and residence. Every national parliament has a board of 3 members (seats 1 to 3), who assembles their parliament’s remaining seats. The Secretariat will periodically review the formation of each national parliament.

To have a credible database with a result of each vote we need to know where you are from, who you are, as well as some other general questions about you. GlobalVote performs shadow votes on global issues. Real votes that take place in International Organizations often occur in secret and behind closed doors. GlobalVote strives for total transparency, which is why member voting records are published.

If you have two nationalities you have to choose under which one you would like to apply for membership. Voters with more than one registered nationality will have to choose which nationality to use for their membership. The database will be frequently checked to avoid double subscriptions. Please keep in mind that once you register, YOUR NATIONALITY CANNOT BE CHANGED!

1. The “default” for the GlobalVote will be “one country one vote”, in this scenarios in every country the majority of votes decides the vote of the country in the world parliament. If more then 50% of the countries are in favor the resolution is accepted by the GlobalVote.

2. In the scenario “as is” the 5 countries with a Veto in the UN will have the same power, meaning if 51% of the China, France, Russia, UK or USA will reject the resolution it will not matter any more what the rest of the world population thinks and the resolution will be rejected.

3. The third scenario is a scenario is “absolute numbers” where borders don’t exist, the global population votes and the majority of votes are counting.

4. In the fourth scenario the vote of a country will be extrapolated by the number of habitants / population. Here China will have a much bigger influence on the vote then let’s say Latvia or Belize.

5. The fifth scenario (under construction) will be a scenario where the vote will be counted regionally, every continent will have one vote.

6. The sixth scenario will be where the women-vote which counts for 1,5 while men are only counting for 1. The “women empowerment vote” with further the one country one vote technique.

7. The seventh scenario can do the same where the people from countries with less then $5,000 GDP their vote will count double.

All scenarios will be supported by graphs and the database. All data can be downloaded in database and excel format for further analysis.

No matter where you live you can be a member of your national parliament, so long as you are a citizen of that country.

The passport you carry determines the country you'll represent in GlobalVote. People with two passports should choose which nationality they want to be a member of for GlobalVote. You may live in another country but for our system you still vote for the country for which you have a passport.

GlobalVote will abide by the list of 192 countries recognized by the UN. These disputed territories could however be the focus of later discussion within the GlobalVote community.

Some real world parliaments have a very small female presence. In the parliaments of GlobalVote we want to establish a balanced gender ratio, so only a maximum of 60 of the 100 seats can be occupied by one sex.

The Secretariat of the GlobalVote, which will be accessible by email and will post new resolutions on the GlobalVote website, functions administratively and cannot vote. The Secretariat will be the “super admin” in the system and can revoke membership in case of abuse. Such actions have to be explained in writing and published on the website under “site management.” The Secretariat will preferably be made up of people from all continents.

English will be the primary language, but local volunteers and members of each parliament are encouraged to translate any information into their own languages. Blogs on the national level can be written in local language, while summaries of the national discussions will be posted in English.

Initially, all UN resolutions as well as resolutions and decision making processes from other international organizations will be posted on GlobalVote. At a later stage, member states can propose their own resolutions to the Secretariat, which makes final decisions regarding postings and timing based on requests from member states.

Results on the national level can be viewed from the time a resolution has been posted until its deadline. However, the world results and the different scenarios can only be viewed after the closure of the voting period.

GlobalVote strives for total transparency and does not conduct closed voting. Every vote cast will be recorded and published, and every voter will have his or her voting record published online.

On every level (world, national, seat, individual) there will be voting statistics available. Voting records according to gender, educational level, profession, religion, and age will be free and openly available. Analysis will be offered in the form of graphs, tables and other statistical information. GlobalVote will also offer voting scenarios that are unique to global research organizations. The default voting scenario is one country one vote, with 51% counting as a majority. Other voting scenarios reflect UN veto policies (with the world’s most powerful countries possessing veto power as a majority), the global popular vote, the global weighted vote, which takes into account a country's population, and other scenarios which grant more voting power to under developed countries and to the female population of a particular nation.

No, www.theglobalvote.org will ONLY use your data to analyze the results of the vote. The purpose of GlobalVote is to stimulate the discussion on global decision-making, without any commercial ambitions in any way whatsoever.

GlobalVote is a project of Globalhood an organization with 501(c)(3) (NGO) status in the United States. GlobalVote is also a registered foundation, or "stichting", in The Netherlands. GlobalVote is run by a group of enthusiastic, dynamic volunteers and interns in both the US and the Netherlands with extensive international development experience. This initiative began in early 2007 and the website was launched in November 2007.

Just like regular voting, GlobalVote reveals the final tally after the official voting time has expired. Because the votes are tallied by our computer, they are posted about one minute after the deadline. If you are curious about what members are thinking about the resolution being voted on before you cast your vote, check out the comments posted after their votes or look at the forum page.