The people have spoken? No no, at 52-48, they have disagreed. Some referendums are OK, like the Belfast Agreement; others are dodgy; a few, as in the Balkans, provoked wars.
Logically, the will of the people cannot be identified if lots of them state only what they do not want. However, if the choice of options is sufficiently broad so that folks can vote positively, we may identify the will of a majority (or maybe just the largest minority). Better still, if they cast their preferences, we can identify the option most acceptable to (almost) everybody.
This article discusses decision-making and makes only passing reference to elections. With regard to the 2011 referendum on the electoral system and Brexit, it examines binary and multi-option voting; then, going a little more technical, it shows that the collective will can be identified with preferential voting.
