Thank you for sharing the data points and concerns @ShadowOfTime1 @ColinkaMalinka
Vote pace is a minimum spacing between votes, not a deadline a vote has to beat. The parameter that triggers a timeout is the round timer, which is 3 * delta + vote_pace + local_processing. With today’s 100ms delta and 100ms processing estimate that’s 800ms at a 400ms vote pace and 700ms at 300ms — so the round timer does come down by 100ms.
But that 100ms isn’t lost headroom. vote_pace sits in two places that move together: it’s the floor on when you release your vote, and it’s a term in the round timer (the deadline). Drop it by 100ms and both your vote-release and the deadline shift 100ms earlier, so the window left for transmission and processing stays put at 3 * delta + local_processing = 400ms
Practically, validators near the geo center finish rounds faster because the floor drops to 300ms, and a validator whose vote is ready within that 300ms floor keeps exactly the same budget. Round timeouts will not happen more frequently