Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Term: 50 Percent Plus One
Definition: When a group needs to make a decision, a majority vote is often used. This means that more than half of the group needs to agree on something for it to happen. "50 percent plus one" is a way to estimate what that number is. For example, if there are 100 people in the group, then 50 percent plus one would be 51 people. However, if there are an odd number of people in the group, this estimate might not be exact. So, it's better to just say "a simple majority" which means more than half of the group needs to agree.
Definition: 50 percent plus one is a common but imprecise way of approximating a majority. It means that in a group of people, more than half of them need to agree on something for it to be considered a majority.
For example, if there are 100 people in a group, a majority would be 51 people or more. However, if there are an odd number of people in the group, "half plus one" would not be a whole number, so it would not accurately represent a majority.
Another way to express this concept is to use the term "simple majority," which means the same thing but is more precise.
For instance, if a school board has 7 members, a simple majority would be 4 members or more. If they are voting on a new policy, and 4 members vote in favor of it while 3 vote against it, the policy would pass because it received a simple majority.