A good solution to this would be to have all ballots require a "NO" vote be cast if a person wishes to not vote in a particular race. This would record some vote for each race in order to continue with the ballot.
I think it is fair and accurate to say that many people pass over certain races because they simply don't want to cast a vote for any of the available candidates.
This simple and obvious solution would eliminate any claims that votes were cast and not counted. Why don't politicians want such a simple solution like this? They fear the "NO" votes would actually win!
Absolutely ... voters would interpret "NO" to mean "NONE OF THE ABOVE"