It’s natural to plan a familiar act like voting and assume the election will proceed smoothly. Thinking something else might happen sounds fantastical, at first. But growing evidence indicates November’s elections will be far from ordinary. They will determine party majorities in Congress, and the subsequent fortunes of President Trump. And the president wants to avoid a Democratic majority at all costs.
It’s helpful to remember what Trump did in 2020, the last time he faced electoral defeat. He launched a multi-pronged attack on the election results. He pressured state governments to decertify vote counts. He challenged election outcomes in court, losing every case. He organized slates of electors to certify his imagined victories. He pressured the vice president to reject certification in Congress. He organized a violent mob to attack the Capitol, hoping to force legislators to accept his demands. And he has since relentlessly cast doubt on the legitimacy of our system of government.
Today, the Department of Justice is announcing plans to arrest election officials in some states Trump lost in 2020. The DOJ is also demanding Michigan officials turn over county voting records from 2024. Trump now talks of “nationalizing” election administration. He wants to selectively limit who can vote, by requiring proof of citizenship IDs and an end to vote-by-mail. He is already making plans to legally challenge November’s results, is proposing that DOJ and friendly state governments seize voting machines to investigate “irregularities,” and he may field federal law enforcement in Democratic strongholds on election day to intimidate minority voters.
The legal system will only be able to do so much in the face of such attacks. Results will inevitably be delayed, and ballots will be contaminated as unauthorized authorities withhold them from oversight. Tensions may predictably spiral, allowing Trump to declare a national emergency.The only way to hold the line will be for Americans to take to the streets in numbers large enough to disrupt business as usual, to convince authorities to abandon their plans. Such an action, often referred to as a “general strike,” could follow the examples in Hungary last April, and in South Korea in 2025, when in similar circumstances civil society mobilized millions of people to face down authoritarianism.
National groups organized a one-day action on Friday, May 1st, to start to build momentum for such a strike. Organizers took inspiration from the international examples, and from the January 23rd, 2026 strike in Minneapolis, when tens of thousands of people from all walks of life demonstrated against ICE and hundreds of businesses across Minnesota closed in solidarity.
If as November approaches people see their right to vote actually threatened they will surely respond with fury. There needs to be an organized movement already in place by then, with effective and peaceful plans for action at the ready.
A coalition of local groups hosted a rally at the Ventura County Government Center on May 1st, as part of this national effort. Indivisible Ojai Valley and many other Ojai residents joined the event. Perhaps in the coming months the national effort can establish more widespread community connections that can help heal divisions and restore a stronger democracy in this country. A future of free and fair elections may ultimately depend on it.
Written by Bill Haff
(a shorter version was printed by the Ojai Valley News on April 30 2026)
