There is always concern when it comes to polls and how accurate their predictions will turn out to be come Election Day. Much more certain in this pre-election period, however, is that voters and activists are pulling out large numbers of early voters in key states and that there are bigger than ever vote protection efforts underway designed to battle Trump administration schemes to taint the midterm vote.
Often it is people committed strongly to particular candidates that are most involved in the vote protection mobilizations.
In Ohio, for example, the race for U.S. Senate could well determine which party controls that body. The race between Sherrod Brown, the Democrat, and Jon Husted, the Republican, is extremely close, as is the race for the governorship between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton.
“These races are really heating up,” Josh, a lawyer and a political activist in Ohio, told People’s World. Josh says he is worried most about the Senatorial race, where Husted and Brown are much closer than Democrats would like. The gap between the two gubernatorial candidates is wider, he said.
He reports that the vote protection operation in his state involves a host of organizations, including the League for Women voters, the ACLU, the NAACP, and numerous civil rights groups.
On the question many are worried about—Trump dispatching armed federal agents to interfere with the vote—Josh says there is no evidence yet of that going on in Ohio. ”It’s no reason to rest with thoughts that they will not intervene,” he said, pointing to the fact that ICE is out now in the Springfield area “harassing Haitian immigrants.”
The use of federal armed agents to harass immigrants has, of course, been widespread this year and is seen by some as a rehearsal to use them whenever the administration would like for other purposes, including in efforts to intimidate voters.
Josh says his hopes are high for the election in Ohio, with “unions and all their partners doing what they should be doing in the final period before the election.”
Mark Froemke, an AFL-CIO activist in Minnesota, reports positive news about the turnout and about the vote protection efforts in his state, too.
“Metro Surge and the attacks on immigrants here by the Trump administration have changed everything,” he tells People’s World. “It has motivated citizens here to turn out for training sessions in voter protection not only in the Twin cities but across the entire state.
“Labor and its allies,” he said,” are making sure that things are in good shape, and it will be difficult for efforts at sabotage by the Trump administration to break through.”
Froemke gave particular credit to the teacher’s union. “Randi Weingerten and the AFT have really taken the ball here and are making a huge contribution to the vote protection effort.” He said the unions have played a leading role in training sessions that will help poll watchers prevent people from having their right to vote extinguished at the polling place on Election Day
In Texas, one of the key states if the Senate is to be retaken, Alvaro Rodriguez, an activist in the campaign for James Talarico, said that the vote protection effort is a huge undertaking. “Voters are informed about where they have to go to vote. We are also seeing massive recruitment of poll watchers who will protect the vote on Election Day. And we will watch to make sure election victories are properly certified.”
In the 2020 elections, Texas was one of the states where the right wing tried to block certification of Democrats who won their races. Such activity happened in 20 states overall. “We are determined in Texas not to allow that to happen again,” Rodriguez said.
He also suggested that the scale of the turnout may make it harder for Republicans to repeat their tactics. “Harris County, Texas, is one of the largest counties in the country,” he said, “and so far, more than 600,000 voters have already cast ballots”—a record.
In New Jersey, there is no key Senate race, but there are efforts to take from the Republicans at least two Congressional seats. “One of the people we are going after is Tom Kane, Jr.,” reports Lee Dlugin, longtime New Jersey political activist.
These activists hope that a massive turnout, combined with vote protection efforts, will end up delivering results worth celebrating on Election Day next week.
They hope that the outcome will energize them for a long battle they feel may continue after Election Day.
“Trump simply doesn’t ever want to admit he can lose an election” Froemke said, “so he will fight hard using lawlessness and anything else to try to hold on. We are all out to make sure he fails in that effort.”
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