   that is greater than the number cast for
|                   any other candidate but not more than half
|                   the total votes cast.
|
| Source:  'Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary'

JA: An explicit abstention does not count for or against the issue,
    but it does count toward the overall validity of the vote, much
    in the same way that the sample size N counts toward the validity
    of an experiment or survey, and anyone who later argues for the
    validity of the vote will use it 