For many reasons, 2022 was a resounding victory for democracy. Voters in several more cities across the country passed ranked-choice voting and other powerful anti-corruption laws. Election liars failed to seize control of voting in the states that will decide the 2024 election. The violence and mayhem that many predicted would occur on Election Day generally didn’t come to fruition. And overall, democracy was a top issue on Americans’ minds when going to the polls.
It wasn’t all good news, though. Media outlets set the bar so low that the absence of election violence was considered a “win.” Hundreds of election liars still won races across the country, and election workers still faced harassment and threats. More broadly, corruption is still alive and well in our government.
So, as we celebrate the many hard-fought victories achieved in 2022, we can’t ignore the immediate threats that our democracy still faces and the existing structural flaws that still define America’s politics.
