Vote in DAO Governance

How to participate in DAO governance: snapshot vs on-chain votes, delegating, and proposal creation.

What you'll need (prerequisites)

• Self-custodial wallet (MetaMask, Rabby, etc.)
• ETH or native gas token
• Tokens to vote on a proposal with
• Familiarity with transaction approvals

Step-by-step

1. Step 1: Connect a self-custodial wallet

   Open Snapshot / Tally's official site (verify the URL — phishing fakes are common). Click "Connect Wallet" and choose your wallet (MetaMask, Rabby, WalletConnect, hardware). Approve the signature request — this does not move funds.

2. Step 2: Select the correct network

   Confirm your wallet is on the network Snapshot / Tally expects (Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon etc.). Wrong-network connections are the #1 source of UX confusion.

3. Step 3: Acquire the input tokens

   Most Snapshot / Tally actions require both a token and ETH (or the chain's native token) for gas. Hold a small buffer (~$10-20) for transaction fees.

4. Step 4: Delegate voting power (if required)

   Voting itself does not require granting a token-spend approval — never approve Snapshot or Tally to move your tokens. Snapshot votes are gasless off-chain signatures. On-chain governance (Tally / Governor contracts) counts your token's built-in voting power, so you may first need a one-time delegate transaction (delegate to yourself or a chosen delegate). Treat any request to approve token spend just to vote as a red flag.

5. Step 5: Execute the vote on a proposal transaction

   Select your voting choice (For, Against, or Abstain) and confirm. On Snapshot this is a gasless off-chain signature (no gas); on-chain votes (e.g. Tally / Governor contracts) require a transaction and gas. Wait for confirmation.

6. Step 6: Verify on-chain

   Open the transaction on Etherscan / Arbiscan / Basescan. Confirm the balance change matches expectations. Save the transaction hash for tax records.

Common errors and fixes

• Transaction reverted. Most reverts are slippage exceeded, allowance not set, or insufficient gas. Increase slippage marginally and retry, or check Tenderly for the revert reason.
• Stuck pending transaction. Speed up with a higher gas price (replace-by-fee) or cancel by sending a 0-value tx to yourself with the same nonce and higher gas.
• Approved a malicious contract. Immediately revoke at revoke.cash. Move remaining tokens to a fresh wallet if you suspect ongoing compromise.
• Wrong network. Switch chains in your wallet. If funds were sent cross-chain to a contract that doesn't exist on the destination, contact the bridge support.
• Slippage too high. For thin-liquidity tokens, split the swap into smaller chunks or route via an aggregator (1inch, CoW Swap, Matcha) which finds better paths.

FAQ