Here's how we SAVE the midterm election from Trump's plot to steal it!

Democrats need their own plan to SAVE the election

Simply put, this midterm is the most important election in the life of our nation. It will determine if Donald Trump succeeds in his march toward tyranny or we preserve our Republic.

Trump gets that too. He wants to continue with no checks on his power, no investigations and no impeachments. That is why Trump is now laser focused on rigging the election—the same way he worked to overturn the 2020 election.

Here are three distinct areas we must be focused on for the midterm:

1. Casting ballots

2. Counting Ballots

3. Certifying Results

These three C’s must be our focal point because they will be Trump’s. We know this because it’s what Trump did after the 2020 election. First, he claimed mail in ballots were fraud—trying to force people to vote in person during a pandemic. He then literally demanded the ballots no longer be counted after the election when he was leading. And then, he opposed the certification of the election results in the swing states he lost--both on state level and then at Congress on Jan. 6.

We are already seeing Trump prepare to do the same. First, with regards to casting a ballot, Republicans are again pressing to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. As voting experts note, this law would silence millions of voters by creating new barriers to voter registration and casting a ballot.

Under the SAVE Act, most voters wouldn’t be able to register to vote with their driver’s license alone because licenses generally do not indicate citizenship. Instead, they would need another less common form of documentation, like a U.S. passport or birth certificate. The SAVE Act could affect registered voters too. Any time somebody updates their registration, if they change their address or political party, they would need to provide these documents.

These additional requirements would force voters to jump through unnecessary hurdles to exercise a fundamental freedom in our democracy. For example, married people who have changed their name do not necessarily have a birth certificate with their current legal name on it. In reality, the SAVE Act is creating a new version of the Jim Crow Era poll tax—as well as other obstacles intended to help Republicans win.

Apart from that, we can expect Trump to use ICE and other federal agents to intimidate voters. There is no doubt that ICE agents would arrest US citizens based on skin color at voting locations and hold them until the polls are closed in the service of Trump. Now you understand why Trump has repeatedly stated he wanted to end the use of mail-in ballots. He wants people only to be able to cast a ballot in person so he can target people for voter intimidation.

Counting and certification the ballot: Last week, Trump sent his FBI agents and Tulsi Gabbard-the Director of National Intelligence—to Fulton County, Georgia, to seize 700 plus boxes full of voting related equipment and ballots. As the NY Times reported, Trump personally ordered Gabbard to go to Atlanta for the search, and coordinated her actions with Andrew Bailey, one of two deputy F.B.I. directors. Behind closed doors, Gabbard called Trump during the FBI search who then addressed the agents on speakerphone, asking them questions as well as praising and thanking them for their work. Obviously, the entire event was in the service of Trumps’ agenda to steal the 2026 election.

And then in an effort to address all three Cs-casting, counting and certification- Trump yesterday called for GOP taking over the elections in key battleground states and locations. Trump said in a media interview: “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” he said. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

In reality, Article 1, Section 4 of US Constitution states “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” But as we’ve learned, the Constitution offers little protections today thanks to the corrupt GOP Supreme Court.

Trump was convicted of 34 felonies for cheating in the 2016 election. He was charged with four felonies for attempting to cheat in the 2020 election. Trump even incited the Jan 6 terrorist attack to overturn the 2020 election.

That means any action Trump or his GOP propose now about voting is not about election integrity—its’s about cheating. It’s about rigging the election. It’s about silencing our voices!

The question is: How do we protect our elections knowing what Trump is up to and capable of? We need our own SAVE Act—with a better name—to counter Trump and the GOP’s plot to steal the election. Here are my ideas but we need even more!

First, we need Democratic leaders to be yelling about this loudly and that Trump—the man who attempted a coup after the 2020 election—is already plotting another one. Wake people up to the threat!

Second, Democrats need to plan ways to protect our elections. In Blue states, expanding mail in and absentee ballot options would protect the right to cast a ballot free from Trump’s ICE goons at voting locations. No one then has to wonder about being detained simply for going to vote.

Third, international election observers. The same way the U.S. sent observers like Jimmy Carter to monitor foreign elections, we need UN experts in US. As the UN notes, “Election observation is a valuable tool for improving the quality of elections. Observers help build public confidence in the honesty of electoral processes. Observation can help promote and protect the civil and political rights of participants in elections.”

In addition the House has the Election Observer Program where the chair or the ranking Democratic member can send people to observe federal elections. The purpose is to have Observers on-site at polling locations, any location where processing, scanning, tabulating, canvassing, recounting, auditing, or certifying voting results is occurring.” The House Democrats should be planning to use this very tool.

When it gets to the expected legal battles, that is where the pro-democracy lawyers come in. And we know they are watching all of this very carefully.

We can each play a role in amplifying Trump’s plan to steal the election. If you are able, you can volunteer in some states to be an election monitor. And we need to push Democratic leaders to start sounding the alarms and planning to protect the election this year. Our democracy and our freedoms depend on it!

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Below is the YOU are my guest segment today on this very topic. If you are interested in hearing what people from the Substack community had to say on the issue, check it out. And I hope you will join future segments!

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