The 2016 Progressive Honor Roll
The 2016 Progressive Honor Roll
John Nichols
The Nation
Yes, the election results were generally awful. But the untold story of 2016 is that grassroots activists, bold campaigners, and the movements they embraced frequently prevailed—and their successes showed progressives how to press forward even in the most frustrating and difficult of times. Our 2016 honor roll of the most valuable progressives is a chronicle of the fight that has already begun, and a road map for the resistance yet to come.
MOST VALUABLE NATIONAL ELECTORAL REFORM
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
Despite assaults on voting rights and the very infrastructure of democracy, Hillary Clinton beat Trump by roughly 3 million votes. But Trump narrowly prevailed in enough swing states to claim an Electoral College win—the second time in less than 20 years that a Democrat has lost to a Republican with fewer votes. California Senator Barbara Boxer is right: The Electoral College should be abolished. But the constitutional amendment Boxer proposes will be a hard sell in a GOP-controlled Congress. Luckily, there’s another way to let the people choose their president: The bipartisan National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, proposed by the National Popular Vote campaign, would require states to “allocate their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most popular votes in all fifty states and DC.” The compact goes into effect after states with 270 electoral votes have signed on. So far, 10 states (and the District of Columbia) are in, and the movement is growing.
MOST VALUABLE STATE ELECTORAL REFORM
Ranked-Choice Voting
On November 8, Maine voters approved a ranked-choice (or instant-runoff) system to elect US senators, US representatives, the governor, and state legislators. Under the new plan, voters will rank candidates in order of preference, with the votes of losing candidates being reassigned to more viable preferences until a clear winner emerges—no spoilers, no wasted votes. State Representative Diane Russell says this system “allows [Mainers] to vote their hopes.” That freedom and flexibility will advance the promise of democracy, and the group FairVote is working to get other states to embrace that promise.
It's hard to understate how pivotal it is that the first state in the union has passed ranked choice voting. It's also amazing how close we are to short-circuiting the electoral college. To quote a certain vice president, this is a big f*cking deal. Of course this is just the beginning, but let's not forget that we did make some progress in 2016.
Other notable shout outs by The Nation:
MOST VALUABLE CAMPAIGN
Bernie Sanders
MOST VALUABLE STRUGGLE
Stand With Standing Rock
MOST VALUABLE FREE-PRESS CAMPAIGNER
Amy Goodman