Example
Imagine that Tennessee is having an election on the location of its capital. The population of Tennessee is concentrated around its four major cities, which are spread throughout the state. For this example, suppose that the entire electorate lives in these four cities and that everyone wants to live as near to the capital as possible.
The candidates for the capital are:
- Memphis, the state's largest city, with 42% of the voters, but located far from the other cities
- Nashville, with 26% of the voters, near the center of the state
- Knoxville, with 17% of the voters
- Chattanooga, with 15% of the voters
The preferences of the voters would be divided like this:
| 42% of voters |
26% of voters |
15% of voters |
17% of voters |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Here, Memphis has a plurality (42%) of the first preferences, but not a majority. We can contrast this by looking at the fourth preferences, where the majority of voters (58%) have placed Memphis last. In all single-winner voting systems apart from the simple plurality voting, Memphis will lose as a majority of voters do not want the city as capital.
Read more about this topic: Majority
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