How Polity Works
Polity enables communities to pool resources, propose designs, and democratically decide what message appears on high-visibility digital billboards. Campaigns run in cyclical Seasons: each Season funds, elects, and displays one community billboard message, then rolls over into the next Season to elect fresh artwork.
Phase 1: Community Funding & Creative Proposals (30 Days)
Every campaign launches with a 30-day community funding and design proposal window. The campaign has a Minimum Launch Target (MLT) set by the organizer (currently Polity during Beta) required to secure and schedule the digital billboard display run.
Any funds raised during Phase 1 beyond the minimum target directly extend the billboard's live display duration and daily screen rotations for the winning design.
Submit Your Design Right Away
You don't have to wait for funding to finish. As soon as you contribute $10 or more, your Submission Right is active immediately. Submit your billboard artwork early so community members have more time to discover, discuss, and rally behind your concept before voting opens.
1-Person, 1-Voice Governance
To ensure fairness and election integrity, Voting Rights are issued during this 30-day funding window. Every backer who contributes $10+ secures exactly 1 Voting Right and 1 Submission Right. Larger contributions buy more billboard screen time, but never extra votes or ballots. Any contributions received after this window closes roll over into Season 2.
Phase 2: Ranked-Choice Voting (3 Days)
Once the 30-day window concludes and the target is reached, creative submissions lock and the election opens for 72 hours. Verified Phase 1 contributors enter the voting booth to rank candidate billboard designs using Ranked-Choice Voting.
How Ranked-Choice Voting Works:
- 1Rank your favorite designs: Rank candidates in order of preference (1st, 2nd, 3rd...). You can rank as many or as few designs as you genuinely support—you are never forced to rank designs you dislike.
- 2No wasted votes: If your #1 pick receives the fewest votes across the community and is eliminated, your ballot automatically transfers to your #2 choice for the next tabulation round.
- 3True majority consensus: Elimination rounds continue until one design earns an outright majority (over 50%) of active ballots, ensuring the winning billboard represents genuine community consensus rather than a narrow plurality.
Phase 3: The Billboard Goes Live (30 Days)
Following brief vendor production review, the elected design is dispatched to our commercial digital billboard network (such as the high-traffic Highway 101 corridor), and the 30-day live display run begins.
Once live, high-resolution proof-of-flight photos and screen location verifications are published directly on the campaign page for the community to inspect. Concurrently, vendor invoice disbursements are permanently recorded on the Public Treasury Ledger for complete financial transparency.
Any contributions received after Phase 1 funding locks—such as during the election or live display—are held in the campaign treasury to jumpstart the funding goal for the next creative Season.
Phase 4: The Seasonal Refresh
Polity campaigns are designed to be perpetual civic media channels. Once an active 30-day display run concludes, accumulated treasury funds trigger a Seasonal Refresh.
Creative proposals and voting reopen for Season 2, welcoming newly joined contributors and returning backers alike to elect fresh artwork that keeps the community's message dynamic and responsive.
Looking Ahead: The Evolution of Collective Governance
Polity is designed to expand from a curated pilot into a self-governing public media platform.
Current Beta: Curated Campaigns
During our initial testing phase, all campaigns and display locations are set up directly by Polity. This allows us to rigorously test payment handling, automated refunds, ranked-choice tabulation, and digital billboard dispatch.
Future Roadmap: Member Proposals
As the platform matures, we plan to decentralize how campaigns originate. To prevent spam while keeping the platform accessible, contributors who back at least one campaign on Polity will unlock the ability to propose new campaigns, locations, and civic topics.
Community Feasibility & Review
Member-submitted proposals will undergo standard feasibility and legal compliance checks. Once approved, they will open for community funding alongside platform-initiated campaigns.
Beyond Digital Billboards
Digital billboards provide a clear, accountable starting point. Over time, the same cooperative framework—collective funding, community design submissions, ranked-choice voting, and transparent financial tracking—can support other forms of shared public communication.