Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

If they leave preferences completely off their ballots, that is mathematically identical to ranking those options DEAD LAST.

For sake of argument, I'll agree with this. So what? If you've eliminated all of the candidates about whom I care, by definition I don't care how the rest of the candidates fare. My ballot no longer should count toward the total cast for the purposes of determining a majority anyway. Only those voters who still care about the remaining candidates should have a voice in making the decision.