[EM] Maintenance Elections

[Raph Frank]

In Ireland, we use PR-STV for elections.  However, vacancies are also
filled by PR-STV, so if there is only 1 seat to fill in the
constituency (near certainty), then it is filled effectively via IRV
in the constituency.

This ofc benefits the 2 large parties, though often, they won't run a
candidate if a family member of the deceased.stands (where the seat is
vacant due to death) ... gotta love de facto hereditary seats.

On county councils, there is a "co-option" process.  Basically, the
council itself fills the vacancy by majority vote.   However, there is
a tradition (not sure if legally binding) that the seat is filled by a
person from the same party as a vacancy.

My view on how to fill depends on the method.  For single seaters, I
don't see a problem with just holding a byelection using the normal
method.  This can give a slight power boost to that constituency if
the government has a small majority.

However, under PR-STV, that is unfair against the smaller parties.

One option would be to fill on the nomination of the outgoing member.
This has the advantage that it is simple, and should ensure that the
vacancy is filled by a person similar to the outgoing member.   The
European Parliament uses this system.

A slight modification would be to require that the member specify
their 'backup' before the election, kinda like a VP in the US.

Another option is to use the original ballots.  In Australia, for
their PR-STV seats, the ballots are reexamined after a vacancy and the
results calculated a second time.  However, no candidate who is still
sitting in the parliament can be eliminated (i.e. you can't lose your
seat because someone else resigns).   This has some potential problems
in the maths, but it should ensure that a candidate similar to the
outgoing member is elected, while allowing the voters' choice to
determine the replacement.

I think that is a good idea, and it encourages a party to run extra
candidates so that they have 'spares' to fill vacancies.  This can
help reduce the ability of parties to perform vote management.