Even if Pro-Reli wins a majority, the referendum will fail unless a quarter of the 2.4m-strong electorate says yes. Teaching of religion in schools may be undone by sloth, not atheism.
If passed by a 51% majority, the referendum would mandate city authorities to begin spending locally raised tax revenue without first going to Congress – by amending DC's Home Rule act.
The uncharitable might respond: if Tories dislike being in coalition so much, they should try winning a majority.A referendum on changing Britain's voting system is the next big electoral challenge, probably in May (when local elections are also due).
However, it was the Better Together leader who addressed jubilant supporters on the morning of 19 September, following a majority of referendum votes for "No".
In November of last year, voters in Denton, Texas sent the oil and gas industry packing, passing with a 58percentt majority a referendum banning fracking within city limits.
All I was pointing to is that history tells us that the great majority of referenda support the status quo.
The problem is that because the Parliament is elected by proportional representation, a party needs to get close to 50% of the vote before it can hope to have a majority.The new referendum strategy, Mr Swinney reckons, gives the Nationalists the flexibility to get the referendum it wants, if it falls short of an overall majority.
Although recognition enjoys majority support, the referendum council has not approved a particular proposal to be voted on at a referendum.
Callaghan's plan failed to win a large enough Scottish majority in a referendum, and collapsed.
