It brings up an interesting question of wasted votes. By definition, in plurality voting, at least 50% of all votes must be wasted. Anyone who votes for a losing candidate (and thereby doesn't receive an elected representative) wasted his/her vote. And anyone who voted above the threshold for the winner also cast a wasted vote (because the candidate wouldn't win anyway). It's easy to see why turnout would be low in such a system.

(You could of course argue that a candidate winning a race with 60% of the votes is much stronger in the office than a candidate that wins 51:49, so this is a bit of an oversimplification, but hopefully you get the idea of how wasted votes work solely within the context of decided who wins the race.)