Legal Definitions - 50 percent plus one

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.