Six templates, one assembly. Printed back-to-back, these sheets are the kit: a group with a table, some pens, and an agreed rule can run a complete assembly — proposal to sealed record — with no software at all, including ours. Each template maps to one module of the course and to one stage of the demo decision, so you can see exactly what the filled version looks like before you pick up a pen.
You don't need us for this. Everything on this page works on paper alone, and paper is where we suggest you start. Software earns its keep later — when a record needs to be verified by someone far away, years on — not at your first assembly. The templates print cleanly in black and white; nothing on them depends on colour.
Or simply use your browser's own Print / Save as PDF — the page prints the same either way, and the headers, footers, and buttons stay off the paper.
1 · Proposal Form
Module 1 — one page that states what is being decided, by whom, under which rule, and by when — before a single argument is made. If a field cannot be filled in, the question is not yet decidable.
Reference
Title — what is being decided, in one sentence
Proposed by (name and role)
Who decides (the whole membership, or a named group)
Quorum — how many must take part for the result to stand
Deliberation window (opens / closes)
Poll closes (date and time)
Decision rule — written down before deliberation starts
Sunset or review date — when does this decision end, or get looked at again?
Background — why this, why now
Exactly what changes if this is adopted
Worked example — Fernside Garden Collective, VA-2026-014. Title: convert eight of our twenty-four plots to a shared food-bank bed for the winter season. Proposed by Ana Berger, coordinator. Who decides: all 24 members; quorum half the membership. Window 26 May – 1 June; poll closes 2 June, 7 pm. Decision rule: consent poll — adopted when objections, once heard and answered, number fewer than a fifth of votes cast. Sunset: ends 30 September automatically.
Module 2 — one card per member: a stance, a position in one sentence, and the reasoning under it. Everyone writes before anyone speaks, so the quiet get the same start as the quick. Print one sheet per member — the second card is for after the amendments, in case a position moves.
Card A — opening round
Name and role
Stance — tick one
☐ For ☐ For, with condition or amendment ☐ Against ☐ Stand aside for now
My position — one sentence
My reasoning — the “because” others can examine
Amendment I propose, if any
Card B — after amendments (only if your position moved)
Stance now — tick one
☐ For ☐ For, with condition or amendment ☐ Against ☐ Stand aside for now
What moved it — which argument or amendment
Worked example — Priya Sharma's card. Stance: For, with amendment. Position: “Support — but draw the eight plots by ballot, not by map.” Reasoning: naming the south edge in advance puts the whole burden on the same eight people; a ballot across all twenty-four means everyone carries the same risk. Amendment: the eight plots drawn by ballot across all twenty-four.
Module 2 — the facilitator's synthesis sheet. Every line on it must trace back to something a member actually wrote or said; anyone in the room may check it against the position cards. That check is what makes the facilitator's neutrality auditable rather than claimed.
Where the room agrees — in the room's own words
Where it actually divides — the one contested question, in one sentence
Amendment on the table
Proposed by
Folded into the ballot? (Y/N)
If no — recorded as a stated alternative? (Y/N)
Final wording as put to the ballot — read back to the room before the poll opens
Worked example — the Fernside synthesis. Agrees: all five contributors want the food bank supplied through winter; nobody disputes the shortfall. Divides: may a majority redirect plots that members hold individually? Amendments: sunset clause (Marcus Reid — folded in), ballot draw (Priya Sharma — folded in), voluntary-rows alternative (Elena Novak — not folded in; recorded as the stated alternative).
Module 3 — the ballot and the count. All four boxes stay visible, the count happens in the open, and the rule is applied in writing — arithmetic included — so the outcome can be checked by anyone, on the day or years later.
The proposal as put — final wording, copied from the tracker
Eligible to vote
Quorum required
Votes cast
Quorum met? (Y/N)
Response
Tally marks
Total
Agree
Agree with reservations
Stand aside
Object
The decision rule, as written on the proposal form
Threshold met? Show the arithmetic
Outcome — tick one
☐ Adopted ☐ Not adopted ☐ Referred back for a new proposal
Date and time the poll closed
An objection is two things at once: a counted vote on this sheet, and a preserved voice on a Dissent Record Slip (template 5). Every objector gets a slip — whether or not the proposal is adopted. Adoption never erases an objection.
Worked example — the Fernside count. 16 of 24 voted — quorum (12) met. Agree 9 · agree with reservations 3 · stand aside 2 · object 2. Rule: adopted when objections number fewer than a fifth of votes cast — 2 of 16 is under that line. Outcome: adopted, 2 June 2026, with both objections preserved.
Module 4 — one slip per objector, in the objector's own words. Nobody paraphrases, nobody summarises, nobody tidies. The recorder attaches every slip to the record so the dissent travels with the decision — this is the part most processes throw away.
Slip 1
Objector (name and role)
Date
Grounds — tick any that apply
☐ Principle ☐ Practicality ☐ Process
My objection, in my own words
Objector's signature — “I ask that this objection travel with the decision”
Recorder's confirmation — “attached to the record verbatim and unedited” (sign and date)
Slip 2
Objector (name and role)
Date
Grounds — tick any that apply
☐ Principle ☐ Practicality ☐ Process
My objection, in my own words
Objector's signature — “I ask that this objection travel with the decision”
Recorder's confirmation — “attached to the record verbatim and unedited” (sign and date)
Worked example — two Fernside slips. Elena Novak (plot 7), grounds: principle — “the day a majority can vote a member's plot into common use, tenure here means nothing… I ask that this objection travel with the decision.” Ruth Calder (plot 15), grounds: practicality — “a shared bed without named hands is a weed bed. If it fails in July, this record should show we said so in June.” Both recorded 1 June 2026; both sealed beside the adopted outcome.
Module 5 — what a complete record contains, and how it gets sealed: on paper with a read-back and signatures, or on Village Assembly with the group's signing key. Both are real seals; they differ in how far away, and how much later, a stranger can check them.
Part A — is the record complete?
The record contains…
Present? (Y/N)
The proposal as put — the final wording, not the first draft
Every amendment, with its proposer's name
Alternatives stated but not balloted
The full tally — all four boxes, not just the yes
Every objection, verbatim — the signed dissent slips attached
The decision rule as applied, with the arithmetic shown
Quorum required, and votes cast
The dates: deliberation window, poll close, decision
Part B — sealing on paper
Step
Done? (Y/N)
The full record was read back to the room, and the room confirmed it
The proposer signed and dated every page
The facilitator signed and dated every page
At least one objector (if there were any) signed — confirming their words appear unaltered
Copies distributed to (several hands, not one drawer)
Where the master copy lives
You don't need us for this. A record read back to the room, signed by proposer, facilitator, and an objector, with dated copies in several hands, is a genuine seal — it has settled arguments for centuries. Its limit is reach: a stranger far away, years later, has to trust the signatures and find the copies.
Part C — sealing on Village Assembly (one good way, not the only way)
Step
Done? (Y/N)
The record is sealed — hashed and signed with the group's Ed25519 key
The signed file is exported — complete in itself: proposal, tally, and dissent
Every member can download their own copy
The group's public key is printed in the minutes — the signature specimen anyone can check against
The seal was verified on a machine the group does not run — offline, if you like
Worked example — the sealed Fernside record. Record VA-2026-014, sealed 2 June 2026, 19:47 NZST. Outcome, tally, both verbatim objections and the stated alternative sealed together, inseparably; digest and signature over the whole — change one character anywhere and verification fails loudly.