Here in the US, elections are held under a system where the candidate receiving the most votes (this is technically called a "plurality") wins the election. If one candidate gets one less vote than the other, they lose and get nothing. This system is usually called a "winner-take-all" system.
Many political scientists criticize this system because they believe it denies representation to the people who voted for the losing candidate. In the 2008 presidential election, Sen. John McCain won 45.7% of the vote. You can argue that the people who voted for him (almost half the people) are unrepresented now.
People who don't like this argue that it would be better to have something more like what's called a "proportional representation" system like many European countries have. In that system, if your party wins 45% of the vote, they get 45% of the representatives in the legislature.
So: our system is called "winner-take-all" and it can be distinguished from "proportional representation" systems where even parties that don't get the most votes do win something.
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