How Does the Concept of “Cost” Relate to Voting in a Quadratic System?

In a quadratic voting system, the cost to the voter is measured not just in the number of tokens, but in the square of the votes they wish to cast. For example, to cast V votes, the cost is V^2 tokens.

This means the marginal cost of each additional vote increases linearly. This increasing marginal cost structure is the mathematical core that encourages voters to distribute their influence across many proposals rather than concentrating it on one.