Extent excessively short terms

[frivoal]

See #1033

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[chaals]

I'm not in favour of this.

If we need an extra person, then have the election. But the more seats are up for election at a time, the more representative the outcomes are of W3C as a whole (see also the discussion in #688), whereas the most common case of a single-seat special election means that to the extent there are "factions" the single biggest voting bloc gets an extra representative. I understand the disincentives to short-term participation (having been there and done it), but I don't think it makes sense for that relatively unbalanced representation to be extended beyond a scheduled election.

[fantasai]

Maybe this needs to just be for the case where we have a full recall. Or maybe just for the case where half of the group's seats are vacated.

[fantasai]

Btw, there's an open issue for discussion, perhaps we should move the conceptual conversation there?
#1033

[frivoal]

@chaals : we already have a rule saying that we should not have special to fill vacant seats if the next regularly scheduled election is fewer than three months away. This PR doesn't change that, but deal with what happens if we do anyway.

Also, fantasai is possibly right that this matters differently in the case of one or a few vacant seats (→ should just wait), vs cases of many/most seats being empty.

[cwilso]

I'm in strong agreement with Chaals. We should not extend the term because it interferes with the election dynamics.

Overall, I don't think it's necessary to fix this "problem"; it's left to the Chair(s) whether to call a special election or wait until the next regularly scheduled election, and I think that's good enough. (This has been exercised both ways - calling a special election in late 2022 when four seats on the AB were vacated, and not calling a special election in early 2025, when a seat was vacated.)

The only reason I can see for this being necessary would be a total recall of the elected body, which is similarly not really something I think we need to solve.