Donald D wrote: > I have been testing different means of filling a vacancy in a > multi-seat body using Preference Voting and the Cambridge Ballots. I > have come to the conclusion that the best way to fill a vacancy is > to go back and work the ballots from the last election - but with a > change. -snip- > The rule is that the sitting members of the current body are > not to be dropped. -snip- Looks fine. Why not check out the rules used in Australia and Ireland, which have been using STV for decades? There may be no need to reinvent the wheel. Another possible improvement to the STV algorithm would be to uneliminate all candidates dropped during previous iterations every time STV is about to transfer overquota excess votes from seat-winners. Those transfers could transform a "loser" into a winner. ---Steve (Steve Eppley [EMAIL PROTECTED])
