Voting in the Intersect election season? Here's the how, when, and why you should!

7 min

As the Cardano blockchain advances toward its goal of becoming the most decentralized blockchain ever, Intersect is leading the way with another groundbreaking election season. Kicking off with the board elections occurring in September, we then proceed to the committee elections in October. 

In September, the number of elected board members increases from two to four. Doesn’t sound very important until you realize that the board has seven seats, so for the first time, the majority of the board is directly elected by Intersect members.

Then, in October, seats in each of Intersect’s seven committees will be up for election. Watch out for a detailed blog on the committee election soon. The partial changeover enables existing members to pass on their corporate knowledge to the new ones, who will bring fresh ideas and perspectives.

Why your vote is important

Someone must run GitHub, manage vendor contracts, coordinate contributors, and ensure compliance with global law. Intersect fulfills these duties as part of its constitutional responsibility. 

The governance of the Cardano blockchain depends on governance actions proposed by ada owners and voted on by three groups: delegated representatives (DReps), who represent ada owners; stake pool operators (SPOs), who maintain the blockchain; and the constitutional committee, which ensures the Cardano constitution is respected. The Intersect committees provide crucial advice and guidance to DReps, SPOs, the Intersect board, and ada owners in general. Each committee has a clear scope, allowing them to focus on and specialize in their respective field.

Your participation is vital to ensure that the best candidates can collaborate to help Cardano achieve its full potential.

To vote in each election, go to the members’ dashboard and follow the prompts. A video tutorial is available to help with the details.

The board and each committee have a specific number of seats available, and you can select up to that number of candidates. For example, if a committee has five open seats, you can vote for up to five candidates.

These elections are vital to the future of Intersect and the Cardano blockchain. To facilitate them, Intersect has devoted considerable efforts to ensuring the utmost integrity and transparency. Part of ensuring integrity is establishing eligibility rules that aim to prevent election fraud. An independent audit of the results further ensures the integrity and transparency of the findings.


Board Elections

Voting starts on September 15, 2025, at noon UTC. 

Eligibility rules

  • General: Only members who have been members for at least six months before the commencement of voting, or those who have recently joined and verified their membership, are eligible to vote.
  • Six-month members (individual or enterprise) who joined before March 15, 2025, at noon UTC do not need to verify themselves.
  • Recent members who joined before September 15 at noon UTC can get verified at any time before voting ends.
  • New members must join before September 15 at noon UTC to be eligible to vote.

If the last two items apply to you, you will see a ‘Verify Identity’ option on your main dashboard. Members will be able to choose between two methods of verification:

This process ensures fair and secure participation in elections while providing members with the flexibility to choose how to verify their identity. Below are important dates for the various phases of the election:

Application

  • Application opens on September 01, noon UTC
  • Application closes on September 12, noon UTC

Voting

  • Voting begins on September 15, noon UTC
  • Voting closes on September 26, noon UTC

Audit

  • Audit starts on September 27, noon UTC
  • Audit results on September 29, noon UTC

Results

  • Results shown on September 30.


Committee elections

Voting starts on October 16, 2025, at noon UTC.

Eligibility rules

  • General: Only those who have been members for at least three months before voting starting, or who have verified their membership, can vote.
  • Three-month members (individual or enterprise) who joined before July 16, 2025, at noon UTC do not need to verify themselves.
  • Recent members who joined before October 16 at noon UTC can get verified at any time before voting ends.
  • New members must join before October 16 at noon UTC to be eligible to vote.

If the last two items apply to you, you will see a ‘Verify Identity’ option on your main dashboard. Members will be able to choose between two methods of verification:

This process ensures fair and secure participation in elections while providing members with the flexibility to choose how to verify their identity. Below are important dates for the various phases of the election:

Application

  • Application opens on October 1, noon UTC
  • Application closes on October 14, noon UTC

Voting

  • Voting begins on October 16, noon UTC
  • Voting closes on October 29, noon UTC

Audit

  • Audit starts on October 30, noon UTC
  • Audit results on November 2, noon UTC

Results

  • Results shown on November 3 


Over to you

You can help shape the Cardano blockchain into the blockchain you envision, one that proves decentralization can work at scale, one that empowers the powerless, banks the unbanked, and connects the unconnected.

Join Intersect, verify it’s really you, and vote for the candidates of your choice.