How to Help Protect the 2018 Elections

Those free and fair elections were fun while they lasted.  Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said in a hearing today that Russian cyber attackers are already targeting the 2018 midterm elections in the US.

But not to worry, Donald Trump is on it!  Back in November, the guy who has called the suggestion of Russian meddling in our elections a "made-up story" and a "hoax" had these reassuring words for American voters:

"[Vladimir Putin] just - every time he sees me, he says, 'I didn’t do that.'  And I believe - I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.  But he says, 'I didn’t do that.'  I think he’s very insulted by it, if you want to know the truth.  Don’t forget, all he said is he never did that, he didn’t do that.  I think he’s very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country."

Really though:  the last thing our electoral system needs, after a long history of suppression of the vote for African Americans and women and immigrants (most recently in the form of Trump's recently-disbanded, so-called voter fraud commission) is more Russian tampering.

Guess it's in our hands.

How to help with election protection

Call your representative in the House (202.224.3121) to urge advancement of H.R. 1562, the Securing America's Future Elections (SAFE) Act.  The bill would put enhance cybersecurity measure for elections and require corresponding paper ballots.

Are you a lawyer?  Sign up as a volunteer for 2018 election protection efforts with the Voting Rights Institute, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and Lawyers for Good Government.

Connect with and support the groups working to protect voting rights, including:

• Verified Voting
• Election Protection (866.OUR.VOTE)
• Save Our Elections
• Voto Latino
• Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
• Project Vote
• National Council of La Raza
• Demos
• State Innovation Exchange
• NAACP and NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• Let America Vote
• Brennan Center for Justice
• Advancement Project
• League of Women Voters
• Rock the Vote

Bonus help:  Russia!

Looking for a long-distance way to stop Vladimir Putin's meddling in US elections?  Support his opposition. Check out our prior post with a few ways you can stand with the courageous Russian democratic opposition, beginning with Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.

Get inspired to fight for election protection by Alexei Navalny:  In December, Putin (who has controlled Russia for 18 years) banned Alexei Navalny from running for president.  Navalny in turn called for a boycott of the March 18 election and was arrested last month.  Since then, he's helped explain the connections between Putin's buddies and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.  He seems fearless in the face of threats and violence.

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