A majority is more than half. If you want something else, such as 50%+1, say so.
You also must say what you are counting unless you want the default - count those entitled to vote who voted at a time when the issue could properly be voted on, but do not include those voting blanks and abstentions in the total.
For example, bylaws could state about a serious issue that you count the entire membership, whether or not present - gets difficult to pass unless most of them vote on the issue.
On Sat, 29 Mar 2003 09:12:26 -0800 Bart Ingles wrote:
From Merriam Webster's Collegiate (via Jeeves):
Main Entry: ma·jor·i·ty
Date: 1552
1 obsolete : the quality or state of being greater
2 a : the age at which full civil rights are accorded
b : the status of one who has attained this age
3 a : a number greater than half of a total
b : the excess of a majority over the remainder of the total : MARGIN
c : the preponderant quantity or share
4 : the group or political party whose votes preponderate
5 : the military office, rank, or commission of a major
- majority adjective
Also from Merriam Webster:
Main Entry: majority rule
Date: 1893
: a political principle providing that a majority usually
constituted by fifty
percent plus one of an organized group will have the power to make
decisions binding upon the whole
Definitions 3c and 4 seem to mean any quantity required to win an election. Also note the relatively recent origin of the phrase "majority rule".
Bart
Olli Salmi wrote:
At 22:10 -0800 24.2.2003, Bart Ingles wrote:
Just to further muddy the waters on the definition of "majority", note Duverger's use of the term as apparently synonymous with "plurality":
Outside the US (or North America) it's normal to use "majority" or "simple majority" for what Americans call "plurality", and "absolute majority" for "majority". http://news.bbc.co.uk/vote2001/hi/english/voting_system/newsid_1173000/1173697.stm
I made a short search and it seems that "simple majority" in the US means "more than 50%, as opposed to a 2/3rds majority or some other special majority". In the UK it seems to emphasize "majority of those present and voting, as apposed to a special majority or a majority of all members".
"SImple majority" clearly means "absolute majority" in this link from Scotland: http://www.sec.ed.ac.uk/Committees/AcYear/consult/VotingPaper.htm
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