compute-quorum-from-voting-supply

Compute quorum from voting supply

A proposal fails either because it did not reach quorum or because against outvoted for — two different failures with two different fixes. Compute both from the governor's own numbers.

Procedure

1. Read the quorum formulation. OpenZeppelin governor exposes: cast call $GOV "quorum(uint256)(uint256)" $BLOCK --rpc-url $RPC and the numerator/denominator that produced it: cast call $GOV "quorumNumerator()(uint256)" --rpc-url $RPC cast call $GOV "quorumDenominator()(uint256)" --rpc-url $RPC
2. Note that OZ quorum is a fraction of total supply (or getPastTotalSupply(block) at the snapshot block), not of votes cast. A 4% numerator on a 1e9 supply is a 40,000,000 token floor.
3. Read the tally: cast call $GOV "proposalVotes(uint256)(uint256,uint256,uint256)" $ID --rpc-url $RPC which returns (againstVotes, forVotes, abstainVotes).
4. Apply the governor's own rules, which differ by version:
   • OZ _quorumReached: forVotes + abstainVotes >= quorum.
   • Compound Bravo: quorum counts forVotes + abstainVotes (abstain can carry quorum without a majority).
   • OZ _voteSucceeded: forVotes > againstVotes (strict).
5. Worked example: supply 1e9, numerator 4, so quorum = 40,000,000. Tally for=30,000,000, abstain=5,000,000, against=2,000,000. Quorum is NOT reached (35M < 40M), so the proposal is Defeated despite for>against.
6. Recompute at the snapshot block used by quorum, since supply moves: cast call $TOKEN "getPastTotalSupply(uint256)(uint256)" $SNAPSHOT --rpc-url $RPC

Pitfalls

• Assuming quorum is a percentage of votes cast; in most governors it is a percentage of total supply, so low turnout fails even with unanimous support.
• Reading totalSupply() now instead of getPastTotalSupply(snapshotBlock); a mint or burn between the vote and the check changes the answer.
• Counting abstain as support in sentiment summaries when the governor only counts it toward quorum, not toward for > against.
• Mixing Bravo and OpenZeppelin formulas — they agree on quorum but Bravo's quorumVotes() is a fixed value read once, while OZ recomputes per snapshot block.
• Treating Defeated as a rejection by voters when the cause was a quorum shortfall.

Verification

cast call $GOV "proposalVotes(uint256)(uint256,uint256,uint256)" $ID --rpc-url $RPC
# for+abstain >= quorum AND for>against => the proposal should read Succeeded

Print the quorum number, the tally, and the two boolean tests; if a Defeated proposal passes both, the snapshot block used is the suspect.