Abstentions

Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote (on election day) or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with "blank vote", in which a voter casts a ballot willfully made invalid by marking it wrongly or by not marking anything at all. A "blank (or white) voter" has voted, although their vote may be considered a spoilt vote, depending on each legislation, while an abstaining voter hasn't voted. Both forms (abstention and blank vote) may or may not, depending on the circumstances, be considered to be a protest vote (also known as a "blank vote" or "white vote").

An abstention may be used to indicate the voting individual's ambivalence about the measure, or mild disapproval that does not rise to the level of active opposition. Abstention can also be used when someone has a certain position about an issue, but since the popular sentiment supports the opposite, it might not be politically expedient to vote according to his or her conscience. A person may also abstain when they do not feel adequately informed about the issue at hand, or has not participated in relevant discussion. In parliamentary procedure, a member may be required to abstain in the case of a real or perceived conflict of interest.

Abstentions do not count in tallying the vote negatively or positively; when members abstain, they are in effect attending only to contribute to a quorum. White votes, however, may be counted in the total of votes, depending on the legislation.

The No-ShowParadox

The No-Show Paradox occurs when a voter has a more desirable outcome by not voting rather than voting according to his/her preferences. In a hypothetical scenario with three candidates, imagine if you did not vote. Your first favorite candidate is eliminated in the first stage of the voting, but your second-favorite candidate ends up winning the election againts your least favorite candidate. If you did vote, your favorite candidate might have made it through the first round of voting, but would have then lost to your least-favorite candidate in the next round. You could achieve a better result by not voting than you would have by voting your true preferences. So, without any cost, your benefitting by your second favorite candidate winning. This is an instance of what Fishburn and Brams termed the No-Show Paradox.

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