By Karen Shanton
'Majority' always means 'more than half.' 'Supermajority,' on the other hand, can mean any number of things – from 'three-fifths' to 'two-thirds' to 'three-fourths.' To a Nebraska legislator looking to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot, a supermajority is three-fifths. An Arkansan who wants to appropriate money for something other than education, highways or debt reduction needs a three-fourths supermajority. A legislature is 'veto-proof' (one party controls enough votes to override a gubernatorial veto) when a single party controls three-fifths of the vote in Illinois or two-thirds in Georgia; a simple majority will do the trick in Kentucky. Arizona legislatures can overturn most vetoes with a two-thirds supermajority but tax bill vetoes require three-fourths of the vote.
To make things even more complicated, supermajorities aren't always calculated from the same pool of votes. Vermont legislators can overturn a gubernatorial veto as long as two-thirds of the members present agree to the override. Legislators in North Dakota have to muster the votes of two-thirds of members elected while Michiganders need two-thirds of members elected and serving.
And, unlike majorities, supermajorities are context-dependent. You can tell me whether Florida Republicans hold a majority even if you don't know why I want to know. The same isn't true of supermajorities. If we're talking about referring a constitutional amendment to the ballot, Republicans hold a supermajority in Florida. If we're talking about overriding a veto, they don't. So, the answer to the question, "Do Republicans have a supermajority in Florida?" could be either yes or no, depending on the context.
What this suggests is that it doesn't really make sense to ask, "Does one party hold a supermajority in that state?" or "How many state legislatures have supermajorities?" Instead, we should focus on something more specific, such as "Does one party have the power to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot in that state?" or "How many state legislatures are veto-proof?" This distinction might be worth keeping in mind when the next article about new legislative supermajorities pops up in your RSS reader.
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