# 5.3 - Voting

#### Who can vote

Voting is how **manual veNEST holders** decide which pools receive **NEST emissions** and earn rewards related to that pool each epoch.

{% hint style="warning" %}
You can only vote if your **veNEST is in your wallet as a manual position**.
{% endhint %}

If your veNEST is **deposited into the HYPE Engine Vault (HEV)**:

* the vault **votes automatically** for you
* you **won’t vote manually** with that NFT (as HEV is the voter)
* **common confusion:** your veNEST NFT will **not appear** on the [Vote page](https://app.usenest.xyz/vote) because it’s currently deposited in HEV (not held as a manual position)

***

#### Voting window (UTC)

* Epochs run **Thu 00:00 → Wed 23:00 UTC**.
* **Practical rule:** don’t leave voting to the last minute.
* Set up **Otomato Alerts** for vote/unlock reminders, see [**Notifications & Alerts**](/tutorials/6.10-notifications-and-alerts.md)

{% hint style="info" %}
Only manual veNEST positions will be able to vote, HEV vote for you and your position will not appear if attempting to vote
{% endhint %}

***

#### Voting Deadline

The HYPE Engine Vault (HEV) is designed to operate around the epoch flip with protections that reduce last-minute gaming.

* This hour before 00:00 is used for the Hype Engine Vault to optimally vote.
* veNEST deposited into HEV remains locked **from Wednesday 23:00 UTC (epoch end) until Monday 00:00 UTC**.
* This is described as mitigating front-running around the **“1 hour epoch flip”** buyback/compounding behavior.

***

#### Voting checklist (manual veNEST)

1. Go to **Vote**: [https://app.usenest.xyz/vote](https://app.usenest.xyz/vote?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
2. Pick pools and allocate vote weight
3. Submit (you’ll need **HYPE for gas**)
4. Vote **before Wednesday 22:00 UTC** (best practice)


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