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Filling
casual vacancies after a PR-STV election |
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Ensuring
voters directly elect all the representatives: The
PRSA recommends that the important principle of
direct
election by the electors of all
the representatives, as also specified in
Sections 7 and 24 of the
Australian Constitution for general and periodic
elections, but unfortunately not for filling
Senate casual vacancies, whose filling is
determined by Section 15, aspects
of which regressed in 1977,
be maintained in the filling of casual vacancies
by a prescribed re-examination of the ballots
cast at the election at which the vacating
representatives were elected. It
is necessary for this that either the
ballot-papers (manual count) or the
ballot files (computer count) be
securely retained until the next general or
periodic election. It is also recommended, if
the inconvenience of finding that a candidate
that would fill the vacancy does not wish to do
so is to be avoided, that expressions of
interest in filling the vacancy, and serving for
the remainder of the vacating representative's
term, be invited from all the candidates at the
last election that were unelected and still
remain eligible for election. The alternative to
inviting that before the count would be to
conduct a further count if the candidate
indicated by the first recount declines to
accept the position. The candidates that accept
that invitation and meet those criteria are
termed consenting candidates. For
a countback
where a vacating candidate had a quota or more
of first preference votes, very little time is
needed, but more time is required where that is
not the case, and the pattern of the vacating
member's support is more fragmented. The
alternative, which is a full recount approach,
gives an extremely quick, impartial result that
is, like countback,
based entirely on the decisions recorded by the
voters at the same poll as filled the seat that
has been vacated. An
organization’s electoral rules can be altered to
provide for such recounts by whichever method
its Constitution prescribes, i.e. either a referendum of
electors, a general meeting, or a resolution of
the governing body. It is also desirable for the
rules to include a default proviso that the
governing body should fill the vacancy if a countback
or total recount is not practicable for lack of
consenting candidates, or other valid reason. The two alternative
approaches for conducting that re-examination
that have been used are:
The alternative
recommended by the PRSA is the countback
approach as prescribed for House of Assembly and
muncipal council elections in
Tasmania, any PR
municipal council elections in Victoria,
and
Legislative Assembly elections in the
Australian Capital Territory.
The reason for countback
being the alternative recommended by the PRSA is
its strict adherence to the principle that the
only votes that should determine who should fill
a casual vacancy are those votes that formed the
quota of votes that elected the vacating
candidate. The other quotas of votes are already
associated with elected, continuing
representatives. The residue of votes that is
less than a quota, and therefore did not elect
anybody at the original election, should not
contribute to the election of a replacement
representative any more than they should have
contributed to the election of those originally
elected. That approach normally
results in the election of a candidate of the
same school of thought, or the same associates,
as the vacating candidate presented to the
electorate at the preceding general or periodic
election, unless the voters have specifically
voted otherwise. In a countback,
only the
quota of votes that elected the vacating
representative is examined. This
recommended method of filling casual vacancies
best ensures that the voting balance on the
representative body is maintained at the same
position it was after the original election, and
is not arbitrarily or unexpectedly disturbed.
Where the re-examination shows a continuing
candidate that gained, at that election, an
absolute majority of the next available
preference votes after the preferences of the
vacating candidate at that election, that
continuing candidate is declared elected to fill
that vacancy. If no candidate gains an
absolute majority then, the candidate with the
fewest next available preference votes is
declared to be excluded, and that candidate's
next available preference votes within the quota
of votes being re-examined are transferred to
the remaining continuing candidates. If a
continuing candidate then gains an absolute
majority of next available preference votes,
that candidate is declared to be elected, but if
no candidate does, the process of excluding the
continuing candidate with the lowest total of
next available preference votes and transferring
that candidate's votes continues, and is
repeated for successive continuing candidates
until one such candidate gains an absolute
majority of next available preference votes.
If a vacating
member gained a quota or more of first
preference votes at the election at which that
person was elected, and if an organization used
for the original election the economical computer-based
service PRSAV-T Inc. offers, and
it authorizes PRSAV-T Inc. to retain the
computer files involved, until the next general
or periodic election, PRSAV-T Inc. will conduct
a countback
to fill any first such casual vacancy during
that time for no charge,
as the computer program readily enables that to
be done in those special circumstances. The
result, with full details, can be provided by
return email.
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