If voting really needs to be rewarded, governance could be changed:
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Governance rewards could be placed in an Algo investment fund managed by the foundation. That fund could be used to provide low-interest startup loans for novel projects, and also to directly inject Algo into the ecosystem. Investment could include providing collateral through DeFi projects, buying NFTs that are likely to appreciate, etc. The goal would be to grow the fund while simultaneously improving the Algorand ecosystem. Transparency and fair, defensible investing would be key.
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Governance voters would receive a governance token that would mature after X years and entitle them to a certain amount of the Algo investment fund. The timeframe would have to be considerable. Voters therefore would be the people who believe in the long-term success of Algorand, because of the lengthy timeframe and the fact that the investment fund would be tied to the success of the ecosystem. Significant challenges would still obviously exist here, and sufficient barriers would be needed to block bots and deter bad actors. Perhaps KYC would even be needed, which I know a lot of people would strongly oppose, but that likely would be the most effective solution.
I’m sure a multitude of serious problems exist with the above idea, but I’m just throwing it out there since the one point that most people in this thread seem to agree upon is that the current system of governance has considerable problems that need to be addressed. I’ll reiterate that I really think that we need to have some meaningful conversations about the fundamental goals, direction, and structure of governance that are likely to take longer than the next few weeks.