> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.keeta.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.keeta.com/architecture/consensus/votes.md).

# Votes

A vote is used by representatives as a means to communicate their intent to add a set of blocks to their ledger. Depending on the time-frame that an issued vote is valid for, it is either considered a temporary or permanent vote.

Both temporary and permanent votes on Keeta Network are encoded as X.509 certificates. X.509 was chosen because it is a widely-used and well-known standard, and contains a flexible data structure using ASN.1.

Each vote contains the following:

**An Issuer:** The [account](/components/accounts.md) that signed the vote

**Serial:** An arbitrary integer defined by the issuer which is generally incrementing. Two separate votes with the same issuer + serial will not be accepted by the network

**Blocks:** A set of hashes of [blocks](/components/blocks.md) that the issuer is vouching validity for

**Starting Time:** The timestamp when the vote was issued

**Ending/Expiry Time:** The timestamp of when the vote expires and should not be considered in quorum anymore

**Signature:** The issuers signature on the data included, proving that they were the one to issue the vote

A vote is considered valid to a representative in the [voting process](/architecture/consensus.md) if it is not expired, the serial has not been seen before, and the set of blocks is valid.


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