 purpose
    of registering an abstain is to neither support nor
    oppose a motion/ballot.  With the above rules, voting
    &quot;Abstain (no opinion)&quot; has the same effect as a No vote,
    thus an Abstain doesn't count has having &quot;no opinion&quot;.

JA: No, an abstention does not have the same effect as a no vote.
    If the noes had won a plurality, but not a majority, then it
    would be equally possible for them to say that the abstains
    had counted against them, so the burden is equal 