Legal Definitions - plurality voting

Plurality voting is an electoral system in which the candidate or option that receives the most votes wins, regardless of whether they achieve an absolute majority (more than 50%) of the total votes cast. In this system, a winner simply needs to have a greater number of votes than any other single competitor.

• Example 1: A Municipal Election

  In a city council election, four candidates are vying for a single seat. Candidate A receives 45% of the votes, Candidate B receives 30%, Candidate C receives 15%, and Candidate D receives 10%. Under a plurality voting system, Candidate A would be declared the winner because they secured the highest number of votes, even though they did not reach the 50% mark required for an absolute majority.

• Example 2: A School Board Race

  During a local school board election, three individuals are running for one open position. Ms. Rodriguez garners 1,200 votes, Mr. Chen receives 1,000 votes, and Ms. Davies gets 800 votes. The total votes cast are 3,000. Ms. Rodriguez wins the election because she received more votes than any other candidate, even though her 1,200 votes represent only 40% of the total, which is less than a majority.

• Example 3: A Company Survey for a New Policy

  A company conducts an internal survey to decide on one of three proposed new work-from-home policies. Policy X receives 38% of employee votes, Policy Y receives 35%, and Policy Z receives 27%. If the company uses a plurality rule for this decision, Policy X would be adopted because it gathered the largest share of votes among the options, despite not being favored by more than half of the employees.