A majority, also known as a simple majority in the U.S. ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, is a subset In mathematics, especially in set theory, a set A is a subset of a set B if A is "contained" inside B. A and B may coincide. The relationship of one set being a subset of another is called inclusion or sometimes containment. Correspondingly, set B is a superset of A since all elements of A are also elements of B of a group consisting of more than half of the group. This should not be confused with a plurality In voting, a plurality is the largest number of votes to be received by any candidate or referendum. It is contrasted with a majority, which is more than half of the votes. For example, in a plurality election, the candidate with the most votes wins, while in a majority election, a candidate can only win if they also receive over half of the votes, which is a subset having the largest number of parts. A plurality is not necessarily a majority, as the largest subset may be less than half of the entire group. In British English, majority and plurality are often used as synonyms; it can also refer to the margin of vote separating the first-place finisher from the second-place finisher, so that a candidate who wins by 1000 votes may be said to have received "a majority of 1000 votes". The term "overall majority" is used in British English to refer to the difference between the number of seats won by the winning party in an election and the combined number of seats for all the other parties in parliament.[1] The term "absolute majority" is used to indicate more than fifty percent of the vote.[2]
For example, in a hypothetical group of 40 athletes there are:
- 15 association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball. It is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world players
- 10 sprinters Starting blocks are used for all competition sprint and relay events (first leg only, up to 4x400 m). The starting blocks consist of two adjustable footplates attached to a rigid frame. Races commence with the firing of the starter's gun. The starting commands are "On your marks" and "Set". Once all athletes are in the set
- 9 marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres that is usually run as a road race. The event is named after the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens. The historical accuracy of this legend is in doubt, contradicted by accounts given by Herodotus, runners
- 6 table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth with rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, players must allow a ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces players
In this group, a majority would consist of more than half the total number of athletes, or 21 athletes. The group of all ball sport players together (15 football players + 6 table tennis players = 21) comprise a majority. However, football players, 15 in number, comprise a plurality, not a majority. In British English usage, football players would be described as having a majority of 5 (15 - 10) over sprinters, no individual sport has an absolute majority or an overall majority, and ball players have an overall majority of 2 (21 - 19) over the other sports.
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Parliamentary rules
In parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies. It is part of the common law originating primarily in the practices of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from which it derives its name (the "rules of order Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies. It is part of the common law originating primarily in the practices of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from which it derives its name" concerning the conduct of business in a deliberative body A deliberative assembly is an organization comprising members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions), the term 'majority' refers to "more than half." As it relates to a vote, a majority is more than half of the votes cast (noting that an abstention is simply the refusal to vote).
A common error is to list a majority as being "one more than half" or "fifty percent plus one". This is incorrect when there is an odd number of votes cast. When there are 51 votes cast, half is 25.5. Only 26 votes are needed, not 26.5 votes.
The definition of "majority vote" can differ, however, from one parliamentary authority A parliamentary authority is a manual on parliamentary law, containing rules of order for the transaction of business in deliberative assemblies. The society generally adopts such a book to cover meeting procedure not covered in the society's adopted procedural rules to another. Robert's Rules of Order Robert's Rules of Order is the short title of a book containing rules of order intended to be adopted as a parliamentary authority for use by a deliberative assembly, (abbreviated RONR) defines a majority as being more than one half of the votes cast including votes cast for an ineligible candidate, or improper choice (e.g. a vote of "maybe" on a yes or no vote); these votes referred to as "illegal votes cast by legal voters[3]." The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure (abbreviated TSC) defines a majority as being more than half of the "legal" votes cast [4].
For example, assume that votes are cast for three people for an office, Mr. A, Ms. B, and Wimpy the Gerbil (who is ineligible). The vote totals are:
- Total votes cast - 20
- Mr. A - 9 votes
- Ms. B - 8 votes
- Wimpy the Gerbil (ineligible) - 3 votes
Using the definition in RONR, no candidate has a majority and no candidate is elected; 20 votes cast, a majority (in whole numbers) is 11 and no candidate received 11. Using the definition in TSC, Mr. A is elected; 20 cast, 3 illegal, 17 legal, with a majority of legal votes cast (in whole numbers) being 9.
In politics Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in other group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to, political voting systems A voting system or electoral system is a method by which voters make a choice between options, often in an election or on a policy referendum, and even in parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies. It is part of the common law originating primarily in the practices of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from which it derives its name in some cases, there are several different popular concepts relating to a majority:
- Simple majority
- Supermajority A supermajority or a qualified majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level or type of support which exceeds a simple majority . In some jurisdictions, for example, parliamentary procedure requires that any action that may alter the rights of the minority has a supermajority requirement (such as a two-thirds majority)
- Absolute majority An absolute majority or majority of the entire membership is a voting basis which usually requires that more than half of all the members of a group must vote in favour of a proposition in order for it to be passed. In practical terms, it may mean that abstention from voting could be equivalent to a no vote
- Two-thirds majority A supermajority or a qualified majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level or type of support which exceeds majority. In some jurisdictions, for example, parliamentary procedure requires that any action that may alter the rights of the minority has a supermajority requirement . Changes to constitutions, especially those with
- Relative majority In voting, a plurality is the largest number of votes to be received by any candidate or referendum. It is contrasted with a majority, which is more than half of the votes. For example, in a plurality election, the candidate with the most votes wins, while in a majority election, a candidate can only win if they also receive over half of the votes
- Double majority - a majority of votes in a majority of states.
These concepts are not to be confused with the concept of a majority as understood in parliamentary procedure, which is a common error. While they do have counterparts in parliamentary procedure, in it they are undefined as termed, and their discussion is beyond the scope of this article.
Comparison of 'simple majority' with other terms
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A simple majority does not include abstentions Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with "blank vote", in which a voter casts a ballot wilfully made invalid by marking it wrongly or by not marking or absent members. It is more strict than a plurality vote The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies. This voting method is also used in multi-member constituencies in what is referred to as an exhaustive counting system where one member is elected at a, but less strict than an absolute majority An absolute majority or majority of the entire membership is a voting basis which usually requires that more than half of all the members of a group must vote in favour of a proposition in order for it to be passed. In practical terms, it may mean that abstention from voting could be equivalent to a no vote vote (which in countries other than the U.S. still simply means more than half, though the simpler American term "majority" is becoming increasingly popular). It is the most common requirement in voting Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns. It is often found in democracies and republics for a measure to pass, especially in deliberative bodies A deliberative assembly is an organization comprising members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions and small organizations. In parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies. It is part of the common law originating primarily in the practices of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from which it derives its name, the unqualified term "majority" has this meaning, and the usage "simple majority" is discouraged.
Examples
Consider three propositions: A, B, and C, that are proposed in a club A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth of 100 members. In order for a proposition to be successful, a simple majority must agree to it. The results of the election An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional and local are:
- 30 votes for proposition A
- 50 votes for proposition B
- 10 votes for proposition C
- 10 votes are blank
Since there are more votes for B than there are votes for both A and C combined, B has the simple majority, and so wins. That is, the votes for B make up more than 50% of the total counted votes (90). If all the votes were considered, including the 10 blank votes, as in an absolute majority vote, then B would not have a majority. Abstentions and non-voters do not affect a simple majority process, since they neither support nor oppose. They affect only an absolute majority.
In an election for president A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country in the same club having candidates Jim, Bob, Sally, and Bridget, the results are as follows:
- 20 votes for Jim
- 20 votes for Bob
- 40 votes for Sally
- 2 votes for Bridget
In this election, no one has more votes than the combined votes of the opponents, so no one wins. Sally's 40 votes do not make up more than 50% of the total number of votes. In a case like this, most systems would either adopt a plurality The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies. This voting method is also used in multi-member constituencies in what is referred to as an exhaustive counting system where one member is elected at a rule or would have a second ballot with all of the candidates present, unless the organization's bylaws specify otherwise (as is commonly done to create a runoff election The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner. Under runoff voting, the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. However, if no candidate receives an absolute majority of votes, then all candidates, except the two with the most votes, are eliminated, and a second round of voting occurs).
Tie votes do not meet simple majority because not more than half of the votes cast approve, so ties are classfied as failures.
References
- ^ "Overall Majority". Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Longmans. http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/overall-majority. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ "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. 1965 A Dictionary of Modern English Usage)
- ^ Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 10th edition, 2000, pp. 387, 404
- ^ The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure, 4th edition, 2001, pp. 134, 158-9
See also
- Majority rule Majority rule is a decision rule that selects one of two alternatives, based on which has 50%+1 of the votes. It is the binary decision rule used most often in influential decision-making bodies, including the legislatures of democratic nations. Some scholars[who?] have recommended against the use of majority rule, at least under certain
- Majoritarianism Majoritarianism is a traditional political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a majority of the population is entitled to a certain degree of primacy in society, and has the right to make decisions that affect the society. This traditional view has come under growing criticism and democracies have increasingly included constraints in what the
- Wipeout (elections)
Categories: Elections Categories: Politics | Government | Voting | Accountability | Voting theory
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Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:35:38 GMT+00:00
rules? Washington Post (blog) I'd bet that if Roberts and other Republicans would agree to decide the Berwick nomination on the basis of a majority vote, the White House would happily ...
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eChinacities
ue, 20 Jul 2010 09:18:21 GM
Horizon Research Consultancy Group recently conducted a survey entitled Chinese Urban and Rural Residents and Their Ideas about Relocation . In the survey, people were asked pick the place they would ideally like to relocate to.
Q. What is the ethnic majority of the Virgin Islands? Are they tolerant of others who are different? Are the native people there friendly? Thank you!
Asked by Bill - Sat Aug 29 02:03:40 2009 - - 6 Answers - 1 Comments
A. "As of the census of 2000, there were 108,612 people, 40,648 households, and 26,636 families residing in the territory. The racial makeup of the territory was 76.19% Black or African Descent, 13.09% White, 7.23% from other races, and 3.49% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.99% of the population."
Answered by Smiley - Sun Aug 30 16:19:24 2009
