Election Defense Scenarios is a field guide for protecting democracy. This resource walks readers through eighteen detailed scenarios — from voter roll purges and redistricting attacks to armed intimidation at polling places and post-election certification battles — giving organizers, poll workers, community leaders, and everyday citizens the knowledge they need before a crisis hits. Each scenario draws on real historical examples from Georgia to Belarus to Tuskegee, showing not just how threats unfold, but how ordinary people have successfully pushed back.
What makes this guide indispensable is its refusal to inspire helplessness. Rather than cataloguing threats for their own sake, every scenario pairs clear-eyed analysis with concrete, actionable responses grounded in law, history, and proven organizing strategy constantly asking “What would you do?” Because the best time to prepare is now.
Table of Contents
Using the Scenarios
The People’s Election Playbook
(scenarios roughly ordered by timing)
BEFORE ELECTION DAY
Scenario 1: Redistricting to Erase Representation
Scenario 2: The Voter Roll Purge
Scenario 3: ID Requirements Close to Election Day
Scenario 4: Mail-In Ballot Deadline Changes
Scenario 5: Drop Box Sabotoge/Bomb Threats
Scenario 6: DOJ Election Fraud Investigations
ELECTION DAY
Scenario 7: Last-Minute Voting Location Chaos
Scenario 8: Mass Voter Challenge Campaign
Scenario 9: Disinformation Flood: Place, Time, Day
Scenario 10: Armed Civilians at Polling Places
Scenario 11: Federal Agents at Polling Places
AFTER ELECTION DAY
Scenario 12: Recounts and Ballot Curing
Scenario 13: SCOTUS Overturns Counting
Scenario 14: Canvassers Refuses to Certify
Scenario 15: Federal Seizure of Ballots
Scenario 16: Congress Refuses to Seat Winners
SPECIAL SCENARIOS
Scenario 17: DC: Override of Home Rule Election
Scenario 18: Puerto Rico: Federal Interference
Bonus: 1-day Scenario Planning Agenda