ATHENS-Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, “Americans are concerned about election integrity and democratic processes,” reports the Democracy for All Project of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation and Gallup, the polling and analytics firm.
The top concerns include political leaders pressuring election officials to change election outcomes (67%) , ballots not being properly handled, counted, or secured (57%), and voter intimidation near polling places (52%).
Such unprecedented concerns prompted Tim Stevenson of Athens with Lisa Moir and Sarah Waldo of the Westminsters to form Defend Our Vote (DOV), a regional advocacy group, with both Greater Falls Indivisible and the Justice for All committee of Brattleboro Indivisible.
Founded over a year ago, DOV is focused on education, prevention, preparation, and action to ensure fair, accurate, and legal outcomes at the polls and to help guide citizens, if need be, after election day.
DOV is hosting several Community Conversations from Bellows Falls to Brattleboro “to provide citizens with the opportunity to express their concerns about the integrity of the election, as well as to discuss how they might respond should their Constitutional right to the franchise be violated and the trustworthiness of the election compromised.”
The schedule for these free public gatherings:
• Sunday, Sept. 27, 5:30 p.m., Congregational Church, Westminster.
• Thursday, Oct. 1, 6:30 p.m., Putney Public Library.
• Thursday, Oct. 8, 4 p.m., Rockingham Free Public Library, Bellows Falls.
• Wednesday, Oct. 14, 6:30 p.m., All Souls Church, West Brattleboro.
• Wednesday, Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m., Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro.
Stevenson, an area activist and organizer with Post Oil Solutions for years, has a regular column in the Brattleboro Reformer and has authored Resilience and Resistance: Building Sustainable Communities for a Post Oil Age (Green Writers Press), Transformative Activism: A Values Revolution in Everyday Life in a Time of Societal Collapse (Apocryphile Press), and is at work on a book about mutual care communities.
Stevenson published “What Can We Do?,” a two-part column in the Brattleboro Reformer last month, written with Moir and Waldo.
Part 1 offers several options for pre-election action from poll watching to hotline assistance, hosting neighborhood gatherings to speaking with one’s local Selectboard, and, of course, voting.
In Part 2, the authors offer suggestions on what to do post-election in the event of a coup, ranging from resistance and refusal to general strikes, boycotting key corporations, or engaging in nonviolent strategic direct action.
The Commons spoke with Stevenson about DOV and his focus on fair elections.
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Annie Landenberger: Tell me about the project.
Tim Stevenson: [It emerged] from the standpoint that we didn’t trust that Trump would accept a defeat of the Republicans. It’s a Rubicon type of experience. It’s really one of the most critical elections we’ve had in recent times. If Trump wins — if the Republicans win and retain the control of Congress — that’s a big blow.
A.L.: But are you “preaching to the choir” in Vermont, or are those days over?
T.S.: Oh, the choir, in our experience, is really quite extensive. It includes a lot of people you’ll never see at a meeting, maybe not even out on the streets protesting, but there’re a lot of people who very much resonate with where we’re coming from. And people invariably agree with what we’re talking about when we say we’re worried that Trump is going to try to form a coup and not accept the results of what we anticipate will be a defeat for him at the polls.
They don’t say, “Oh, what are you talking about? That’s a lot of hooey.” They say, “Yeah.” But they also say “Well, what are we going to do?”
There’s no definitive answer to what we could do. We don’t know, because we also don’t know what Trump will do specifically.
But I think we have some suggestions that will certainly resonate. And I think we’ll see people acting up and acting out on any attempts by him to rip off the election.
A.L.: So if one’s feeling anxious in Vermont, how must one feel in purple states or red states?
T.S.: Yeah. The polls are very reassuring, though. In fact, the sources that I trust indicate that not only will the Democrats win the House, but they are now a slight favor to win the Senate, which would be an amazing accomplishment.
A.L.: So in one of your recent articles was the phrase “massive illegality.” I’m just trying to get a sense of what that looks like. Does Trump go in and adjust the numbers? Does he arrest people at the polls?
T.S.: Well, certainly it could include having [immigration enforcement agents] at the polls, which would be very intimidating. And somehow using U.S. soldiers there as well. After all, he’s had them in American cities already.
This threat of violence is hanging in the air. And there is so much that Trump is doing to foment that in the minds of the electorate.
A.L.: Should people be voting early?
T.S.: They should. And we encourage all who have the time, energy, and interest to do something at polls, not necessarily in Vermont — which may not be a state we don’t have to worry about — but New Hampshire, Pennsylvania. States [where] we might go to and do poll watching.
Get in touch with the state you’re interested in. You could also get in touch with Lean Left. It’s a vital organization in Vermont, really very critical.
A.L.: And you write about the potential of a “wider war with ground troops.”
T.S.: The point I tried to make there was that one of the classic interventions on the part of fascists to solidify the population is to be in a war. In this case, with opposition already very strong against Trump’s war in Iran, to send human beings, our own boys and girls, over there, many of whom would not return alive, would be his way of trying to evoke this kind of patriotic we’ve-got-to-stand-behind-our-guys-and-gals-[and]-we-can’t-be-opposed-to-the-war sort of thing.
It could also go the other way and just create even further anger with him for being in this silly war. Don’t forget who we’re dealing with: a very troubled, irrational human being.
So to say “oh, he wouldn’t do that,” or “no president would do such things” — Trump has done them already. He’s done many things that no president has ever done. And that’s why all of us need to not dismiss possibilities but prepare ourselves for possibilities.
A.L.: One thing that’s in my head lately is where have all the protests gone? Is that a problem that we’re not seeing big crowds pound the pavement much anymore? Especially around voting?
T.S.: But there continue to be smaller events that happen weekly [regionally] and throughout the country, there are people that turn out weekly to banner at overpasses.
A.L.: Trump wants us to be tired and to give up?
T.S.: Yeah, for sure. So people need to start making noises about the vote. I feel like that’s happening, and it will pick up.
Again, I feel like the polls indicate that opposition to Trump has grown to unprecedented proportions. I don’t know of another president [who] has had polling as negative as he has, and it gets worse.
A.L.: Yeah. But would you put it past him to pull out some sort of 11th-hour surprise, like suddenly gas goes down to $2.70 a gallon?
T.S.: Right. I just hope that Americans are savvy enough to spot a ruse when they see one.
A.L.: I worry. I hear some say, “Oh, I just turn off the news. I can’t take it.”
T.S.: That, unfortunately, is very characteristic of the American public in general in many ways.
The climate has been a very good example of that, of how many of us have just turned it off. “No, I don’t want to hear about the fires out in the Northwest and in Spain and France. That’s not me. I’m fine. Leave me alone.”
After years of being an activist and a community organizer, I have come to feel that [people] typically don’t deal with something until their backs are against the wall or their feet are in the fire. Then they act. Of course, it may be too late then, but people typically do not respond to a growing emergency or a crisis until they’re really forced to.
Unfortunately, I think that can be seen in this midterm election as well. Too many people might dismiss it as, “Oh, well, Trump’s got it fixed. I’m not going to bother,” or “It’s always crooked.”
I mean, there’s been that attitude for a long time about elections. And there is reason: It’s not like people are just imagining it, but the fact is that too many of us give up and allow that to be our excuse for not paying attention and getting involved.
A.L.: My hunch is that there are a lot of really smart Democrats across the country who are revving up the engines to really keep watch.
T.S.: Oh, yes, and more than that. Our secretaries of state in Democrat[-governed] states have been meeting at least since January doing tabletop exercises on all the possible scenarios that they can anticipate. And we have a great secretary of state here in Vermont.
Don’t be asleep. Be prepared.
And two things: One, work on the election. I totally agree that a [blue] wave might discourage Trump from doing anything, as it was in the case of Hungary, where the autocrat was totally prepared to overthrow the election if it was close. But once it turned into a momentous vote against him, he decided, “All right, I’m out of here.”
Now, I don’t necessarily trust Trump to do that because of the kind of person he is. That’s why I’m worried and concerned and working as I am.
Second, then, is be prepared for what might happen after the election and Trump loses.
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Contact Stevenson at bereal@vermontel.net to access his articles and for more information about DOV and with any questions about DOV’s upcoming Community Conversations.
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Editor’s note: Stories presented as interviews in this format are edited for clarity, readability, and space. Words not spoken by interview subjects appear in brackets, as do editorial clarifications.
Annie Landenberger is a regular writer and columnist for The Commons.
This News item by Annie Landenberger was written for The Commons.