# On the Distortion Value of the Elections with Abstention

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how allowing abstention in elections affects the distortion measure of election quality, providing a complete characterization of the distortion values in a two-candidate spatial voting model.

## Contribution

It introduces a generalized abstention model in spatial voting, defines expected winner and distortion, and fully characterizes the resulting distortion values.

## Key findings

- Distortion can be reduced with abstention under certain conditions
- The model provides a complete characterization of distortion values
- Abstention influences the expected winner and overall election quality

## Abstract

In Spatial Voting Theory, distortion is a measure of how good the winner is. It is proved that no deterministic voting mechanism can guarantee a distortion better than $3$, even for simple metrics such as a line. In this study, we wish to answer the following question: how does the distortion value change if we allow less motivated agents to abstain from the election? We consider an election with two candidates and suggest an abstention model, which is a more general form of the abstention model proposed by Kirchgassner. We define the concepts of the expected winner and the expected distortion to evaluate the distortion of an election in our model. Our results fully characterize the distortion value and provide a rather complete picture of the model.