According to this story, a state court decision in Illinois will be released on April 26, no later than 4 p.m., in the case over Macomb’s February 2013 alderman election. This is the case in which the vote in one district was 17-16, and the law said candidates who receive a majority are elected, but if no one receives a majority, there is a run-off. But local elections officials said “majority” means at least one whole vote more than half the vote. Half the vote is 16.5, so under the city’s interpretation, because no one got as many as 18 votes, no one had a “majority.”
Sorry, meant to write 50% of 3 is 1.5.
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1213305890/Ruling-favors-WIU-student-in-vote
In his ruling released Friday afternoon, Judge Rodney Clark said the court found the word majority to be “unambiguous” and required “no construction.” He cited ‘Black’s Law Dictionary’ as having defined majority as “a number that is more than half of a total; a group of more than 50 percent.”
“The city could not produce sufficient evidence to support its belief that ‘majority’ had been defined as ‘50 percent plus one,’” the ruling states. “The city argues that the city has always interpreted the word ‘majority’ in that way. However, just because it has always been done that way does not make it right.”
The ruling goes on to say that anyone reading the municipal code would more than likely believe that a candidate who received more than half of the votes cast during the February election would be declared the winner.
“This court finds that the ‘50 percent plus one’ rule leads to illogical results,” Clark said in his ruling. “Especially if only two people are running for one office.”