by 0x511a22cdd2c4ee8357bb02df2578037ffe8a4d8d (ginoct)
Linked Draft Proposal
Should DAO proposals have a pre-defined ‘Abstain’ voting option?
Summary
This proposal is about adding an abstain predefined option to the DAO’s voting system. This would allow members to indicate that they do not wish to vote either for or against a proposal.
Abstract
Adding an Abstain voting option would allow DAO members the option to abstain from voting on proposals, allowing them to express a neutral position rather than being forced to vote for or against a proposal. Also useful in cases where members have already voted and want to withdraw their vote without having to take a stance.
Motivation
Currently, there is no way for people who have already voted on a proposal to take their VP out of the defining equation. If they voted YES, they can keep their vote or change it to NO. Especially for critical proposals, during the voting period, a message on Discord or the forum, a tweet, a conversation with another DAO member, a Town Hall, or your thought process could change your stance on a matter. Having an abstain option would allow members to keep being involved in the governance process without having to necessarily take a stance on the final outcome.
Specification
Adding an abstain predefined option to the DAO’s voting system (Similar to how the Invalid Question/Options currently work for Polls), would allow members to indicate that they do not wish to vote either for or against a proposal. This option would be available alongside the existing options of “Yes” and “No”. This option will be added only for proposals with Yes/No options (Not applicable to Pre-proposal Polls)
Implementation
- The abstain option will be added to the DAO’s Snapshot space and the Governance dApp and will be available to all members in Yes/No proposals (POIs, Catalyst Node, Name Ban, Grant Request, Linked Wearables Registry, Draft Proposal, and Governance Proposal).
- The abstain option will be counted separately from the “for” and “against” votes, and will not affect the outcome of the vote.
- A summary of the abstain votes will be included in the results of the vote, along with the total number of “for,” “against,” and abstain votes.
Impacts
- Users will be able to change their minds while a proposal is open and change their votes to a neutral option instead of voting for the opposite one.
- Potentially more VP will be participating in DAO Proposals. Showing up is important, and especially at this stage of our DAO, it is crucial to give users the option to acknowledge a proposal without necessarily having a stance on the topic.
-This could be also relevant if in the future the DAO decides to change how the VP Thresholds work. At the moment the VP Threshold is only applied to the winning option, so for a proposal to be considered ‘Passed’, it needs to accumulate a certain amount of VP on the ‘Yes’, and also should have the simple majority of the participating votes. Another way of thinking about the Thresholds would be similar to the concept of Quorum in traditional parliamentary voting mechanisms where the total amount of votes are counted for the Acceptance Threshold/Quorum and then, the winning option must accumulate the simple majority of the participating votes.
Implementation Pathways
A predefined ‘Abstain’ voting option will be added in our Snapshot space to every proposal that does not allow for custom answers (Currently, only Pre-proposal Polls allow for custom answers so this option will be added to Draft, Governance, POIs, Catalyst, Name Bans, Grant Requests, and Linked Wearables).
If the ‘Abstain’ option accumulates more VP than the Yes/No option, the proposal will be considered ‘Rejected’ by the community.
Conclusion
Benefits
- Allows members to express a neutral position on a proposal, rather than feeling forced to take a stance.
- Provides a more accurate representation of member opinions, as it allows those who are unsure or neutral to make their views known.
- Increases the legitimacy of the voting process and its engagement levels, as it allows all members to fully participate without feeling pressure to take a position they may not fully agree with.