Okay kiddo, so imagine you have a toy and your friend wants to play with it too. You might decide to share your toy and play together, right? Well, that's kind of like what happens with municipal annexation in the United States.
Municipalities are like big neighborhoods where people live and work. Sometimes, a municipality might be really big and have a lot of people living there, and sometimes it might be small and only have a few people. When a municipality decides it wants to grow or change, it might decide to "annex" some nearby land or neighborhoods.
Annexation means that the municipality is basically adding more land and people to its own territory. It's like expanding the boundaries of the neighborhood so more people can be part of it. This happens a lot in the United States because cities and towns are always growing and changing.
Now, when a municipality wants to annex some land or neighborhoods, it's not always as easy as just saying "Hey, we're adding you to our neighborhood!" There are rules and regulations that have to be followed to make sure that everything is fair and legal.
For example, the people who live in the area that's being annexed have to agree to it. They might vote on whether or not they want to become part of the municipality. And the municipality has to show that it can provide services like water, power, and police and fire protection to the new area.
So, in summary, municipal annexation in the United States is when a city or town decides to add more land and people to its own territory. It's kind of like expanding a neighborhood to make it bigger and include more people. But there are rules that have to be followed to make sure that everything is fair and legal, and the people who live in the area being annexed have to agree to it.