I'm not sure what our governance would accept as a fair and reasonable solution, however one idea that I proposed was:

Solution:

Add a ticker to the Witness votes and to the Proxy.

i.e. either a 180 day or 365 day timer (whatever the top20 witnesses/governance agree upon)

When an owner of Steem (in Steempower) votes or sets a proxy, the code changes from "0" to "1" and automatically sets off a countdown timer (ticker).

Once that timer hits 00:00:00 the "1" automatically goes back to a "0" on the witness vote/proxy.

ref: Broken Witness Voting System!

It is definitely in our best interests to ensure this issue is taken care of sooner than later.