The translation from live game to forums naturally cannibalizes some roles and makes it more difficult. You can hardly expect everyone to be present for a cult vote. In a F3 situation, my solution would be to make everyones vote final regardless of where in the circle they are. Similar to Lylo, or something like that.
It’s not perfect either but at least it prevents scenarios where a potential evil decides to hold the votes hostage like you’re describing.