Three big things happening in voting right now

Looking at the polls and angry Redditors, it’s pretty clear that President Musk is in for a shocking 2026 midterm elections if things don’t start to change. You can’t crash the market AND abuse veterans AND be rude to Canada and think Americans are just going to sit back and watch what happens next. So it was no shock when Susan Crawford won the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, or when the GOP won two Florida elections by the skin of their teeth. It should also not be a shock that they are going to fight against voting rights with everything they have- and we are going to have to fight back.

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Harmeet Dhillon, a virulently anti-voting attorney, to lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. The civil rights division is the nation’s chief enforcer of voting rights. They are the ones who bring suits on behalf of what remains of the Voting Rights Act and who ensure that racism and discrimination are kept out of our elections. And now this woman is in charge of that division:

So yeah… we’re in some trouble.

Today, more than 60,000 ballots are being challenged in the North Carolina Supreme Court Race, and voters will have to “cure” their ballots in 15 days in this election with a 1,000 vote margin of victory. The challenged ballots skew heavily Democrat, so this ruling almost certainly hands the victory to the Republican challenger. If it surprises you that both of these stories are about state Supreme Court candidates, it shouldn’t. Control the courts and you control everything.

Lastly, we are losing the voter ID battle. After 8 years of fighting to help people get IDs, of desperately trying to make people understand that IDs are life or death for individuals, communities, and our Democracy, this country is at a point when even Democrats are more in favor of voter ID laws than ever before. It truly feels as if no one cares about the 26 million American adults who deserve to have the dignity and freedom that an ID provides, but who deserve to have their voices heard at the polls whether they have an ID or not. If there was a shred of evidence that proved that voter ID laws make elections safer that would be one thing, but there isn’t, and we all know it. We are all aware that this isn’t about security, it’s about exclusion and control. They may be winning this battle, but we will win the war. One day, every American will have an ID and will be able to vote, regardless of what barriers are put in our way. And yes, voter ID is voter suppression.

This is a tough time for everyone in every sector and every area. But voting is the thing that will save us. We have a year and a half until the midterm elections. Normally we would be taking a break from elections, but we can’t afford to do that right now. We have to start strategizing, planning, and getting to work. There will be time to rest when we have our Democracy back.

Let's Get to Work

kat