| | "Is it ever rational to abstain from voting?"
Yes, when it can be shown that it does not serve its purpose of protecting existing freedom or moving towards greater freedom.
For example, if there is real choice on the ballot. Say, there are only two people running in a particular race, no third party, no write-in space, no "None of the above," and the two people are both unacceptable to the extent that a rational person would not sanction either for the office, even as a partial step in the right direction.
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Here is a question... When someone says they didn't vote in a particular race, did they go to the polling both and vote in other races? Or, did they skip voting for any of the positions?
That might change the answer to, "Yes, if voting as a mechanism, as it exists in the particular county or country can be shown as totally non-effective in moving the government towards more freedom, (or keeping it from moving towards more statism). Like a vote when you know that voter fraud is so high that it will always change the outcome."
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"Not only is it highly unlikely, for paradox-of-voting reasons, that yours will be the crucial vote, but even if it is, it will have elected a candidate who is then highly unlikely to be the crucial vote on any proposal of interest, and who cannot even be relied upon to vote the right way if he is. So given the generally lower level of stakes, an election like this one is likely to be a happy hunting ground for protest votes ... I know that there are some souls in the grip of the model who probably would vote for a policy of exterminating X puppies over a policy of exterminating X+1, but it seems pretty clear that there is some point at which it becomes obvious that a morally and politically valid response is simply to declare that the fundamental basis of the implied contract has broken down, and that it’s a reasonable choice to simply refuse to participate further ... [if you don't] vote for the candidate you think is the best ... the expected value of your vote is very small indeed, and the costs of it are the psychological toll on your own morale, plus the opportunity cost of whatever else you might have done with the time."
