Regarding second price auctions, the idea is interesting, but sadly there are simple behaviors that will get around it. If the highest vote gets thrown out, then I will split my stake among more accounts and continue self voting.

Agreed, although the less accounts I use, the more I have to sacrifice, and the more accounts I use, the easier it is for others to detect and counter. This is also why I thought it would be interesting to see what happens if combined with the converged linear curve.