Voter Type: Company vs Association
The difference between Company and Association voter groups in Assembley — weighted share-based voting versus one-member-one-vote — and how to choose the right type for each group.
Every voter group in Assembley has a voter type, and it's the single setting that most changes how voting works. There are two types — Company and Association — and choosing correctly is the foundation for accurate weighting, quorum, and results. This article explains the difference.
Company: shareholders with weighted votes
In a Company group, members are shareholders. Each one has:
- Share capital — the size of their holding, which is the basis quorum is measured against.
- Voting rights — the weight their vote carries in the tally.
Company groups can also use share classes to derive voting weight from capital using an integer multiplier, which is how A/B-share structures are modelled. This is the type for A/S and ApS companies and other share-based organisations. See Understanding Share Classes and Voting Rights.
Association: one member, one vote
In an Association group, every member votes once. There is no share capital and no share classes — each member simply carries a weight of one. Quorum is measured in members present rather than capital. This is the type for associations, clubs, unions, and most member organisations.
How to choose
Ask one question: does voting power depend on how much someone owns?
- Yes → Company. Voting is weighted by shares (optionally by class).
- No, everyone is equal → Association. One member, one vote.
When you create a group, its type is seeded from your organisation type, but you can change it during the guided group-creation flow. See Creating and Managing Voter Groups.
Why the type matters downstream
The type ripples through everything:
- It decides what details each voter needs — capital and voting rights (or a class) for a company; just name and email for an association.
- It decides the import columns — see Importing Voters from CSV or Excel.
- It decides how quorum is measured — capital for companies, members for associations. See Understanding Quorum.
Mixing types
A single organisation can have groups of both types — for example a shareholders group (Company) and a separate delegates group (Association) — because the type lives on the group, not the organisation. Pick the type per group based on how that body actually votes.
Where to go next
See Creating and Managing Voter Groups to build a group, and Share Capital vs Voting Rights Explained for the two numbers a company voter carries.
Related articles
- Creating and Managing Voter GroupsHow voter groups work in Assembley — choosing a voter type (Company vs Association), creating a group with the guided steps, adding voters manually, and importing a register from CSV or Excel.
- Editing and Removing VotersHow to keep your voter register accurate in Assembley — editing a voter's details, removing voters, and why register changes don't affect an assembly that has already gone live.
- Importing Voters from CSV or ExcelHow to import your voter register into Assembley from a CSV or Excel file — the columns each group type expects, how the Class column works for weighted groups, and how invalid rows are handled.