[CLARIFICATION] Should DAO proposals have a pre-defined 'Abstain' voting option?

by 0x511a22cdd2c4ee8357bb02df2578037ffe8a4d8d (ginoct)

Linked Draft Proposal

Should DAO proposals have a pre-defined 'Abstain' voting option?

Summary

This proposal seeks to clarify a contradiction present in the enacted Governance proposal that I authored. In that proposal, in two different sections, there are contradicting specifications of how the Abstain votes affect the outcome of a proposal.

Abstract

In the enacted Governance proposal there are two definitions of how the Abstain votes behave when calculating the outcome of a proposal: In the Specification section, under the subtitle Implementation, I state: "The abstain option will be counted separately from the "for" and "against" votes, and will not affect the outcome of the vote." However, in the Implementation Pathway section I state: "If the 'Abstain' option accumulates more VP than the Yes/No option, the proposal will be considered 'Rejected' by the community."

This mistake is simply a result of copying and pasting text from different versions of the drafts I used to elaborate the proposal.

The definition that should prevail is the one present in the Specification section: "The abstain option will be counted separately from the "for" and "against" votes, and will not affect the outcome of the vote."

This is how it currently works and it's how the Governance Squad implemented the feature in our Governance dApp and Snapshot strategy. Here's the Github issue we used to track the development, where the task is specified.

Motivation

Clarify a contradiction regarding how Abstain votes should be calculated and how they impact the outcome of a proposal in the previously published, voted, passed, and enacted Governance proposal regarding this topic.

Specification

This is currently implemented as defined:

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

The impact of this proposal is to clarify a previous mistake and have a strong Governance model where the mechanisms are crisply defined and validated by the community.

Implementation Pathways

The feature is currently implemented as working as defined in the Specification section of this proposal.

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.

This proposal is summarized due to technical limitations. To view it complete and vote on it, visit the DCL DAO Governance dApp