Remove the downvote entirely.

I am going to give you a hypothetical scenario. Assume we have a subreddit that is dedicated to Topic X. Topic X is very popular right now, but the community is a bit divided on what they think is important to talk about when it comes to Topic X.

There are three primary things that get posted. Opinion A on Topic X. Opinion B on Topic X. Memes about Topic X. 

Let's assume that the community is split, with 50 percent of people holding Opinion A. 40 percent hold Opinion B. 10 percent don't care but just want to look at memes.

Assume that A hates B and will always downvote B. B hates A and will always downvote A. No one hates memes; A and B will not have a net impact on meme upvotes; meme group will always upvote memes.

What happens to the subreddit? Despite holding 40 percent of the upvotes, Opinion B will be completely suppressed. The subreddit will only show Opinion A and memes. That is a terrible system. Opinion B looks as if it doesn't even exist anymore, despite being the second-most popular opinion. This is why when a subreddit becomes popular, the effects of mass downvoting are amplified and will only attract opinion A holders because no other opinion appears to be held by the community.

If everyone used the downvote as intended, then certainly this wouldn't be a problem, but the reality is that that is nowhere near the case.