John, top Trump advisor Steve Bannon just said the quiet part out loud about MAGA’s plans for the 2026 midterms:

FIRST: after Trump directed Texas Republicans to draw him five new GOP seats, Bannon is now urging other red states like Florida, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio to follow suit. [1]

THEN: he urged Trump to double down on his plot (inspired by fellow authoritarian Vladimir Putin) to illegally force states to shut down vote-by-mail options that millions of voters rely on. [2]

NOW: Bannon wants to put ICE at polling places in Democrat-led cities to interrogate and intimidate voters – revealing Trump’s D.C. takeover as a blueprint for permanent military occupation of cities that oppose him.

John, we need to call this what it is: a blatant attempt to steal the 2026 midterms and push forward Trump’s authoritarian regime. It’s disturbing, it’s illegal, and unfortunately, it could work.

That’s because even when Common Cause stops blatantly unconstitutional anti-voter attacks like these – we have before, and we will again – the damage is already done: millions of confused, discouraged, or outright frightened voters who may not show up in 2026.

That’s where our Election Protection work comes in. Our team identifies hundreds of polling stations across the country where voters face the biggest risk of losing their rights.

Then, we recruit, train, and dispatch thousands of nonpartisan volunteers to ensure voters can cast their ballots without obstruction, confusion, or intimidation.

Each volunteer makes all the difference for hundreds of voters: offering a friendly face with trusted information, an advocate to solve problems, and a watchdog to report any wrongdoing to our nationwide network of voting experts so they can work with local election officials on a solution.

We already knew we’d need to scale this work up for 2026 – as millions of Americans eagerly await their chance to respond to this Administration’s policies.

But knowing how fragile our democracy is right now – because Trump and his anti-voter allies see it as an obstacle to getting their way – our work to mobilize our Election Protection 2026 work starts now.

It costs us $50 to fully train and place an Election Protection volunteer. This covers expert training, legal backup, and tech infrastructure to support them from the first primary until the closing of the last polling site on Election Day.

John, how many volunteers we can field is dependent on how much we can raise. Chip in today to sponsor a volunteer and protect our midterm elections >>

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Thanks for all you do,

The team at Common Cause

[1] https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/steve-bannon-just-laid-out-maga-media-playbook-subvert-midterms
[2] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/19/trump-and-putin-are-both-criticizing-mail-in-voting-election-officials-are-freaking-out-00515513