In response to recent discussions I want to open up the floor to everyone in regards to the Abstain option in votes, and whether or not to keep it as an option.
Currently, the abstain option is counted as a part of the vote result, meaning that the winning option of a vote can technically be “Abstain”, creating ambiguity as to what should/shouldn’t be executed.
I want to hear people’s opinion on the relevance of the abstain option, and if better options exist.
What do you think the purpose of “Abstain” is?
Would votes be better with or without “Abstain”?
Which alternatives exist to “Abstain”?
These are some questions I’d like to see discussed.
I can start with my thoughts:
I think that Abstain can be useful as a disagreement of the For/Against options provided, but that counting it as a part of the vote result is inherently flawed because we cannot execute “Abstain”, but I’m curious to hear what others think. The purpose of this post is to create a discussion around abstain as a default option in votes.
In countries election setup , people abstain from vote by not going out to vote even though they have the requirements to cast their . As JUP DAO is concerned the requirement to vote is to stake JUP, people can also abstain from voting by not voting at all, but they will want to vote Mostly to not miss on the ASR. Which make most people chose abstain.
Now in a voting setting when people actively participate in vote , there will always be 2 options ; voting for and voting against.
It’s either you are in support of the proposal or you are against it. The only way to abstain from any proposal is to not vote at all, which can’t happen as far as JUP is concerned cos it attached to ASR.
I just hope the abstain vote can be removed and the option( for and against) be used , as that is the 2 options that can always be the outcome of a voting process.
Well, the abstain option should’nt be counted during finalizing the vote, because means they are unsure of what to do and they just want to get ASR,
we can remove it entirely or have it but wont consider it while counting the percentage of the vote.
We can have only FOR and AGAINST, then increase the passing percentage to 60% and above.
To me I feel “Abastain” is a way to say this isn’t good and shouldn’t be considered,
Counting it as a vote then if “Abstain” wins can directly mean the proposal should be dismissed, never to be spoken about again. Cause it’s not needed.
Maybe a feedback form can be attached to the “Abstain” voters to hear their thoughts to why they voted on that. If there’s a similarity from the responses after a while the proposal can be brought up for a vote again after adjustments have been done .
But if it gets the “Abstain” again then that’s the end
I’ve never liked the idea of abstain. People who are choosing abstain are mainly those who wouldn’t even bother reading the proposal and just straight up vote abstain cause “Hey, I’m not affecting the results, this is harmless and I still get to have my ASR”. This may sound a bit rude, but I’m sure this isn’t entirely wrong as well.
There are 2 things that can be considered in my opinion:
If Abstain is kept: It should be renamed and have a different purpose, such as, if Abstain wins, the proposal goes on for a rework. Abstain could mean, “Hey, I like the proposal, but there are some things I can’t agree with, doesn’t mean I want to vote ‘No’ right away”. People choosing abstain should give a proper feedback as to why they are confused and can’t choose a side between ‘For’ and ‘Against’.
If abstain is removed: Well, only one thing can be done, everyone should understand that as a part of the DAO it’s their responsibility to go through the proposal and make a fair decision as per their opinion. And if they don’t want to bother with the voting process, simply give up on ASR as well.
Its good to be there as typically Abstain allows voters to express neutrality or disagreement with the given choices, some might use it to signal that they don’t have enough information or don’t want to influence the outcome.
But if its not there, and are left with a For or Against then threshold for a yes should be increase to 60-70% for max alignment as was with Jupuary vote.
I think abstain should go, but to be replaced with ‘unsure’ or ‘don’t care’ something along those line for the language. Dao works great if people are actually reading the proposals but I am guessing a large proportion of people are not even reading or are unsure or don’t care.
If we get a end result of unsure/don’t care, it shows that perhaps the proposal needs more work to convince the public or to educate. Perhaps it’s too long and complicated or perhaps it’s a decision that doesn’t vastly interest the public.
abstain option is only for me when I abstain from coffee (i never do this).
In case of yes/no votes with no other possibilities or scenarios abstain would just make the voting system weaker coz what’s the point of abstain here? It’s a yes or no thing there’s truly no in between
There has to be something different rather than abstain or some meaning to abstain
Though another point I’d like to add is setting cutoff higher than 50% (60% or 66%) in case the abstain option is completely removed to have more alignment
“you do not want this proposal to exist” - that sounds like you are against the proposal, doesn’t it?
In my opinion, as I mentioned in my own comment earlier, I feel the real meaning of Abstain should be, “I like this proposal, but there are some things here I don’t agree with and would like them to be changed/reworked. But this doesn’t mean I want to vote ‘Against’ it right away.”
I’m quite frankly horrified to learn that ‘Abstain’ is counted towards a ‘Yes’ vote. It’s like going to an election and spoiling your election paper deliberately (because you don’t agree/like any of the options) to find that it has actually been counted as a ‘yes’ vote for a particular candidate. This is not democracy, its something else (and it’s not good). I think if you are undecided, then you just ‘vote no’. Also, passing percentages (at least for important votes) should be 60% margin as a minimum. Otherwise voting is just farcical and meaningless red tape for ASR.
That’s why a suggested maybe a feedback form for “Abstain voters “
passing it as most persons who vote “Abstain” don’t read the proposal ain’t right too, they might have read it n don’t see why it was brought up in the first place; it’s not needed.
Personally i use abstain only in case i am split between the choices (= can’t really decide) even if i have thoroughly read the proposals, but still would like to take part in the voting. I know that this doesn’t really help the decision process and only serves the person that would like to take part in the ASR. I would definetly encourage to only have YES/NO as at the end we want conscious voting, DAO that really cares about it, help drive to a greater ecosystem.
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