Op-ed: They’re Trying To Stop Americans From Voting. We Won’t Let Them.

By Tom Lopach

In less than one week, Americans will decide who represents them in Congress, who sits in statehouses and governors’ mansions, and who runs the local offices that shape daily life. Midterms typically do not draw the crowds of a presidential election, and plenty of eligible voters will be tempted to sit this one out. This year, more than most, they should reconsider.

Rarely in modern memory has a presidential administration worked so openly to limit who gets to vote. That alone is the reason for every eligible American to cast a ballot.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has issued two illegal executive orders seeking sweeping control over how elections are run, from unfounded proof-of-citizenship demands at registration to restrictions on mail voting and a push for a federal list of approved voters — approved only by the Trump government. Federal courts have blocked key parts of both, but the pressure hasn’t stopped there. Restrictive voting bills have advanced in Congress and statehouses and the nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations that help eligible Americans register have faced coordinated pressure to pause their work.

Each of these maneuvers serve a common goal: to intimidate voters from marginalized communities and convince them it’s not worth even trying to cast a ballot.

This campaign is based in misinformation and falsehoods — and the people leading the charge know it. Nobody spends this much energy, political capital, and legal effort to make voting harder unless the process works.

Yet, the message is landing: fewer than half of Americans expect the upcoming election to be free and fair. That is precisely the point. Those behind these attacks are counting on voters feeling too defeated, confused, and afraid to take part.

I know this landscape well. When I joined the Voter Participation Center (VPC) and the Center for Voter Information (CVI) in 2020, our nation faced false claims of voter fraud, politically-motivated attempts to invalidate election results, and confusion on a national scale.

I took the job because VPC and CVI’s work was tangible: helping Americans register and vote. I never imagined that casting a ballot would become such a fight, or that six years later the attacks would only have intensified. That is exactly why the work matters more now, and why I remain committed to our mission.