Quote Originally Posted by McClef View Post
There is voting in the UK today - a by election in Glenrothes in Fife. This is due to the death of the sitting MP there.

With your fixed term election system in the US what happens if a Congressman or Senator dies in office? I think I heard that in the case of a Senator, the party whom they represented may nominate someone to sit, unelected, for the remainder of the term.

Just curious.
When a congressman (woman) or senator dies in office the exscutive of the state (usually Govenor) makes and interim appointment to the office. Depending on when the next election cycle is for that post a special election may be held to fill the seat, usually within 90 days.

Because this is handled on a state to state basis the rules differ. For example in Alaska an interim appointment senator will not stand for election until 2010. Here in New Mexico several years ago we had a congressman die in office, held a special election, then six months later held a regular general election for the same seat. The express purpose was to try to move the seat from one party to another, it didn't work.

Note it is the State Chief Executive who makes the interim appointment, not the political party, so it is very possible that the opposing party gets the interim seat.