Last night Donald Trump does what authoritarians do. He lied with one purpose: to keep power. Yes he undermined elections and cherry-picked data — but our response isn’t about getting into the weeds of the lies. It’s the overall story: authoritarians view anything out of their power as a threat.
The midterm election is the most singular test of this authoritarian takeover this year. (But not the only one — so keep going those of you fighting for the future of NIH and science, what we teach in schools, or halting petty building projects from the most corrupt President ever!)
We have a very real chance to stymie this authoritarian takeover at the ballot box — and he knows it. He’s singularly led the country into an unpopular, illegal and immoral war in Iran. He’s accelerating policies that grow the wealth gap, carving out ever-deeper poverty and resentment. His popularity keeps tanking. That’s why he’s sounding so desperate these days. Trump is unpopular, desperate, and flailing.
So what are his options? He’s going undermine election results — steal them if necessary.
We are already in it. Trump gutted election protection resources (including for foreign interference) and urged states following the Callais decision to aggressively break Black political power. His regime deployed federal monitors to Michigan and used the FBI to raid voting rights groups. And now last night’s pitiful lies about past elections.
Our job is to push back and prepare.
To assist, I’ve written a book Election Defense Scenarios. It walks through 18 different scenarios of how they may rig the rules — redistricting grabs, voter roll purges, drop box sabotage, disinformation floods, armed groups at the polls, canvassers refusing to certify, federal seizure of ballots, Congress refusing to seat winners, and more.
Because this seems to be how my brain works, each scenario gives background info and then asks: “What would you do?” I then offer vignettes of real responses, from Tuskegee’s 1957 boycott to Indiana’s 2025 statehouse flood to poll workers in Belarus who refused to sign a falsified count.
Not all places will see the same threats. So this isn’t the kind of book you read cover-to-cover. Look at scenarios for your location (Voting Rights Lab has an excellent heat map of the highest threat locations).
As I wrote, I want to offer some generic actions that everyone could take no matter where you are. So (with some collaborators), we created The People’s Election Playbook.
🗳️ 1. Activate the Vote — Grab three people and together to encourage folks to participate in this election cycle. This is bigger than turnout: it’s telling the truth before the lies land. Nearly 89 million eligible voters sat out 2024 — more than either candidate received — you probably know of some of them, encourage them to get involved!
✅ 2. Check Your Registration — Check and then double-check your voter registration status, especially if you’re in a state that’s handed voter rolls to the federal government. http://vote.org
🤝 3. Vote Early — Together — Don’t vote alone. Souls to the polls, a workplace field trip, a friendship hang — whatever you call it, bring people with you and be visible about it. Some organizations are making plans to make this a thing. https://voteearly.org/
🎉 4. Election Day as a Civic Holiday — Vote if you haven’t, then spend the day helping others vote: poll monitor, phone bank, block party, escort folks to the polls. You can sign up at http://election.holiday
📣 5. Count Every Vote — The morning after, show up for the count whether that’s in person or at nearby locations. Cure ballots, explain the process to impatient friends, and — like Philly’s famous dance party outside the county board in 2020 — bring visible, peaceful energy that protects election workers doing their job.
And then if the results are not honored?
✊ 6. Mass Economic Noncooperation — This is our escalation tool of last resort: no work, no school, no shopping, until the election is honored.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but a framework of key steps each of us can do.
If you’re looking for other ways to plug in, there’s a project I helped support call Ground Control. Plug in your zip and get curated, local action opportunities — online and in person — related to the election. It’s still growing, and if your local group has actions to share, you can add your link too.
Thank you for being in this with us.
Warmly,
– Daniel