It was pretty freaking painful not being able to vote for Skyrim (I'm currently playing through this again).
Being able to vote for Mass Effect 2 mitigated the pain of not being able to vote for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Being able to vote for Half-Life 2 mitigated the pain of not being able to vote for Portal 2.
Being able to vote for The Last of Us mitigated the pain of not being able to vote for Red Dead Redemption.
Being able to tell myself Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be my CD Projekt Red wife mitigated the pain of not being able to vote for my The Witcher 3 girlfriend.
Alas, there was no safety net for leaving Skyrim out. Best consolation is to remind myself that half of what I like about the game is modded, and isn't technically part of the game.