By Daniel Hunter
If you’re not plugged in, many groups are still looking for election help — here’s a good place to find what’s close to you.
And significantly, No Kings is wisely gearing up for what’s next — so after you vote and make sure your friends have voted, then sign the pledge to host or attend an event in your community if a national rapid response mobilization is needed.
And I have prepared folks for scenarios based on my scenario guidebook.
Don’t miss this: the safeguards are working hard and holding
Here is what we must not lose sight of: the election system has safeguards. They are working overtime to handle the many Trump threats — and that means there are many of us fighting against the authoritarian takeover from many vantage points.
Consider this story out of Michigan. A right-wing Republican county clerk in Antrim County, Victoria Bishop, tried to change the registration status of more than 1,600 voters. But the system has redundancies, so election officials intervened and all affected voters were reinstated.
We saw something similar in Minnesota, where two right-wing activists, James O’Keefe and Cam Higby, filmed themselves impersonating registered voters in an effort to expose supposed weaknesses in the voting system. They have now been charged with unlawful voting and identity theft.
What to expect: a loser who can’t win, cheats
Trump and Vance may escalate their refusal to allow a fair election or to honor its results. As this video reminds us: A loser who can’t win, cheats. Trump’s goal is to build a narrative.
Alaska. The DOJ has filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification only if the Republican loses. It doesn’t cite laws being broken, just preamble text. Even the Republican-led state government says the lawsuit “has no legal basis.” If it’s not legal, what is it? Trump’s Roy Cohn–style approach uses the law to threaten and to create an appearance of wrongdoing. By creating uncertainty, they hope to claim they were cheated if they lose.
Voter rolls. The DOJ is going after state voter rolls, with a narrative of non-citizen voting. The reality is that they are brazenly asking states to remove tens of thousands of legal voters. The courts have been rejecting these efforts, and the DOJ is now batting 0 for 26 in similar federal-control-of-voter-roll cases. In Nevada, after the administration suggested there were nearly 16,000 noncitizens on the rolls, DHS eventually said it had found 185 people. Nevada officials showed all 185 were citizens.
Election monitors. The DOJ is sending a record 1,000 election monitors around the country. They announced it in a way meant to stoke fear, and I assume they will use reports from the monitors after the election to cast doubt on the results. (Read this very helpful, clear-headed review of what they can and cannot do.)
Overall, these efforts are consistent with what we learned watching authoritarians in Hungary, Serbia, and Brazil facing decisive elections: they lie, they lash out, and they eventually lose.
If we have to mobilize in the future…
Choose Democracy first started 8 years ago with a simple pledge: If Trump tries a coup, we will act. Unlike those days, there are now many groups closely watching different post-election scenarios — from stealing ballots, to not certifying election results, to refusing to seat a new Congress. I’ve written about many of these in my Election Defense Scenario booklet and now much of that is moving into mainstream groups preparing for these possible scenarios.
The pledge strategy is a way to help people prepare ahead of time, which is why No Kings has begun asking people to create a pledge to join or host actions to ensure that every valid vote is counted, certified, and protected. You can sign the pledge now to host or attend an event in your community if a national rapid response mobilization is called.
If you’re looking for more to do on post-election prep right now, join trainings from groups like Hold the Line or election participation at We Are Ground Control.
The bigger picture: a vibe shift is in the air
After the election is over, I want to write more about this shift happening — because it’s not just the tariffs and gas prices causing this. A substantive pushback across the country against authoritarian takeover has defended us from losing even more ground in 2026, starting with Minnesota’s dramatic pushback against ICE’s Operation Metro Surge (Trump is now underwater on the issue of immigration — that was once his number one issue).
A NY Times editorial opined, “The Trump Era Is Fading.” That doesn’t quite capture it — but there are indeed signs: the MAGA coalition is splintering, much of the country has run out of patience with Trump, and Trump 2.0 is no longer the freight train it was. It looks more like the chaotic Trump 1.0 era. But MAGA’s goals for authoritarian consolidation remain real — complete with cabinet accomplices — making all the more need to sign-up and be ready for post-election nonsense.
Remember: Authoritarians are going to lie. They’re going to lash out. And they are going to lose.
Daniel Hunter coaches and trains movements across the globe and is a founder of Choose Democracy. He has trained extensively with ethnic minorities in Burma, pastors in Sierra Leone, and independence activists in northeast India. He has written multiple books, including What Will You Do If Trump Wins, Climate Resistance Handbook and Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow.
This article was sent to The PeaceWorker on Oct. 29, 2026, by Choose Democracy via ActionNetwork.org. It was first published at Choose Democracy.