Under the current Vermont Constitution when a statewide candidate does not receive a majority of popular votes the decision is placed in the hands of the legislature. Thirty-Five states use simple plurality voting system wherein the candidate who receives the most votes, no matter what the percentile, wins the election.
Plurality voting raises concerns when there are many candidates running in an election.
In his book Parties and Elections in America L. Sandy Maisel described the Republican primary in Nebraska's third congressional district in 1990, which had five candidates running against each other. This is not an isolated event. There are many states, besides Vermont, that go beyond plurality voting. An alternative to simple plurality voting that nine Southern States have instituted is runoff election. After the initial primary in these states if there is not a majority winner, a second election between the top two finishers is held.