Dear John,

We all know how important voter turnout will be in this fall’s midterm elections. But there is another big challenge we must overcome that you probably haven’t heard about.

It’s called “ballot roll-off.”

Ballot roll-off is when people vote in top-of-the-ticket races but leave the rest of their ballot blank, neglecting to vote in down-ballot races like state legislature and secretary of state.

And according to a new analysis of voting patterns in recent elections, Democratic voters are far more susceptible to ballot roll-off than Republicans.

This would be a big problem in any year. But this year, it could be catastrophic.

MAGA Republican election deniers are running for secretary of state and other key election offices so they can help Trump steal the 2024 presidential election. This November, 60 percent of Americans will have an election denier on their midterm ballot.

Anti-abortion extremists are running for state legislature to pass total abortion bans with zero exceptions for rape or incest.

We must make sure voters don’t skip these races. But it won’t be easy, because these races tend to get a lot less media attention. So we’re doing something we’ve never done before: We’re launching an emergency push across our social media platforms to sound the alarm about the importance of down-ballot races and close the gap in ballot roll-off.

Will you make a donation right now to Inequality Media Civic Action and help ensure people vote in every key down-ballot race this November?

In 2020, Democrats lost seats in Congress even while Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump for the presidency. One of the reasons why is that a lot of voters showed up to vote against Trump and then simply tdidn’t fill out the rest of their ballot.

If that happens again in 2022, it will mean more states passing total abortion bans. It will mean MAGA Republican election deniers taking over the key offices that oversee elections, count votes, and declare who won.

Frankly, it could put the survival of our democracy at risk.

To reach young people and others who are most likely to skip voting in down-ballot races, we’re going to have to get creative. We need to get the message out on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and other social media platforms where these young voters live.

The team at Inequality Media Civic Action has spent years building our audience on these platforms and perfecting the best, most shareable and persuasive videos. But to ramp up our efforts over the final weeks of the election, we’re counting on supporters like you to chip in.

Please chip in whatever you can afford to support Inequality Media Civic Action and help defeat the MAGA Republicans running up and down the ballot this November.

Thanks for all you do to protect democracy,

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action