plurality

     You may read or hear in election results that a candidate won by a plurality of the votes cast. A plurality is not the same as a majority. A majority of the votes means more than half, or at least 51%. A plurality simply means more votes than the other candidates, even if no one got more than 50% ( 50 out of every 100 ). For example, if candidate Smith got 31% of the votes, and candidate Jones got 29% of the votes, candidate Smith won by a plurality of the votes. The rest of the votes may have been split between several candidates. This is more likely to be the result of a local election or a primary election, in which several candidates might be running for the same office or nomination. In most of our national elections, the vote is usually split between candidates of the two major parties, with only a few votes being cast for an independent candidate.