As the title says, the ruler of a faction, whether it is the player or the AI, should be able to outright claim a fief for themselves regardless them being not on the ballot. During the voting process, under the three possible owners, there should be a box that allows the player to claim a fief for themselves if they are the king/queen for a hefty influence cost. I'm thinking x influence necessary to counter all the lords' votes + 100 to 150 influence, meaning, this will always cost at least 100/150 influence even in the off-chance that the ruler is not part of the ballot and no lord has voted for anything. This would really benefit the player during the early-mid kingdom phase where you want to grant some companions nobility or want a newly joined lord to have some fiefs so that they get more income, but you don't want to or can't give any fiefs you own.