15%

On June 7, 2016, Hillary Clinton declared victory in the Democratic presidential primaries, defeating her primary opponent Bernie Sanders. On July 12, 2016, Sanders endorsed Clinton to be the next President of the United States. Several of Sanders' supporters were upset by this, and declared that they would not support Clinton, saying that they were "Bernie or Bust".

On July 22, 2016, just days before the Democratic National Convention, WikiLeaks released a series of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, revealing that several staffers had favored Clinton over Sanders. This infuriated Sanders' supporters even more, only serving to increase their resistance to Clinton's candidacy. On July 26, 2016, Hillary Clinton was officially nominated as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Sanders supporters were livid over this, believing that Sanders had the nomination "stolen" from him and that the primary was rigged. Green Party nominee Jill Stein attempted to take advantage of this situation, framing her candidacy as a "Plan B" for disaffected Sanders supporters. Stein's goal was to reach 15% in the polls and thus be included in the presidential debates. She believed that her presence on the national stage would lead to her becoming a viable candidate and give her a shot at possibly becoming the next President of the United States.

However, with limited media coverage and campaign funds, along with Bernie Sanders himself urging his supporters to support Hillary Clinton and not to engage in a "protest vote", Stein was unable to meet the 15% threshold, thus being excluded from the debates. On Election Day, Clinton was defeated by her Republican opponent Donald Trump and Stein recieved a meager 1% of the vote.

But what if Stein was able to reach 15% in the polls? What if she was included in the presidential debates and thus made a viable candidate? What if American voters, desperate for change in Washington, decided to abandon the two major parties and instead vote in the United States' first Green president?

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 * United States presidential election, 2016
 * Jill Stein
 * Ajamu Baraka