01_STAR / abstain_bugs — BetterVoting abstain-handling reproductions¶
Real BetterVoting elections that expose the abstain / blank / zero handling issues, reproduced and cross-checked against the LH engine. They share one root: BetterVoting's policy (#884) counts an all-equal ballot (0,0 and 5,5) as an abstention, while LH counts an explicit score — even all-0 or all-5 — as a real vote and only abstains a truly blank ballot. The winner usually survives (via tiebreak), but the reported tally/abstention counts diverge, and BetterVoting's "0 tallied votes yet a winner" is the visible bug.
Full context and the wider ticket map: BV abstain / blank / zero — issue index · concept: abstention vs a zero vs None of the Above.
| Case | Method | What it shows | Issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| BV11 — full & equal support (5,5) | STAR | 5,5×3 counted as 3 abstentions (nTally=0); UI warns "Abstained" on full support; LH sees a real 15-15 tie |
#1053 |
| BV655 — "equal opposition" (all-0) | STAR | explicit 0,0 labeled "Abstained"; LH treats it as Equal Support, not an abstention |
#1090 |
| BV1570 — undecided plurality | Plurality | all-undecided election still declares a winner + wrong voter count (2 vs 3) | #894 |
| hckrf7 — Range of Scores denominator | STAR | the Stats for Nerds chart divides by 3 on a page whose headline says "1 voters" — the tabulator drops flat ballots, the chart keeps them (WIP widget, ALL_STATS flag only) |
#1487 |
Related NOTA case (a different flavor — a real "None of the Above" candidate): bv215_26khr3_nota_wins (#1421).