In North America, plurality voting or relative majority[1] describes the circumstance when a candidate polls more votes than any other candidate, but does not receive a majority.[2] In some elections, the winner may have only a plurality.[3] A relative majority may be less than half of the total votes, and contrasts with an absolute (or "simple") majority which is more than half.[1][4][5]
Systems allowing election by a plurality of votes are more vulnerable the spoiler effect than systems which require a majority.[6]
The term plurality has a different meaning in British usage. The distinction between American and British English is described by Fowler (1965) as follows:
- "With three-cornered contests as common as they now are, we may have occasion to find a convenient single word for what we used to call an absolute majority... In America the word majority itself has that meaning while a poll greater than that of any other candidate, but less than half the votes cast is called a plurality. It might be useful to borrow this distinction..."[7] In United Kingdom constituency elections, which typically feature four or more candidates representing major parties, a plurality is sometimes called a majority or a relative majority, while the phrases overall majority or absolute majority are used to describe the support of more than one half of votes cast.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Henry Watson Fowler suggested in 1954: "With three-cornered contests as common as they now are, we may have occasion to find a convenient single word for what we used to call an absolute majority ... In America the word majority itself has that meaning while a poll greater than that of any other candidate, but less than half the votes cast, is called a plurality. It might be useful to borrow this distinction ..." (Fowler, H. W., A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, 1965.)
- ^ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plurality
- ^ Robert, Henry M. (2011). Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 11th ed., p. 404-405 (RONR)
- ^ RONR, p. 400
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions about RONR (Question 4)". The Official Robert's Rules of Order Web Site. The Robert's Rules Association.
- ^ Poundstone, William (2008). Gaming the vote: why elections aren't fair (and what we can do about it). Hill and Wang. ISBN 978-0-8090-4893-9.
- ^ Fowler, H.W. 1965 A Dictionary of Modern English Usage.