Stopping Trump's Steal Includes Giving Him No Excuses
We need our elections prepared for more bomb threats and cyberattacks
With the flurry of activity on voter suppression bills in Congress, it would be easy to forget the fundamental fact Trump can’t seem to grasp: American elections are run at the state and local level, and that’s where most of the work to protect them from him will be done.
One major piece of this effort will be ensuring election officials have what they need to make their systems resilient in the face of disruption. In 2024, they had to deal with bomb threats and cyberattacks from foreign actors, along with ballot drop boxes being set on fire. And for the midterms, they don’t just have to worry about these acts of subversion themselves. We’ve also got Republicans in power who may look to weaponize them to dispute the outcomes. (With contested House results, the House can ultimately seat winners by majority vote, giving them a fig leaf of legitimacy.) And to top it off, they have less trust in and less help available from the federal government.
The Brennan Center has a series of recommendations for policymakers to ensure purposeful disruptions don’t stop voters from voting or election workers from counting. They’re focused on ensuring election officials have the expertise, resources, and back-up plans in place to prepare for, prevent, and recover from physical and cyberattacks. 📞 Let’s reach out to our state legislators (contact info) and governors (contact info) and urge them to follow this guidance and prioritize getting the folks who administer the vote what they need to power through disruptions. We can find call scripts and email language below, or send the Republican-friendly version to our electeds by texting SIGN PPCCLW to 50409. 📞
Last updated 2/9/26.
PHONE SCRIPTS
You can find contact info for your legislators here and for your governor here. Please adjust, add, and reword as you would see fit - you will be most effective speaking in your own words!
Hi, my name is _________, and I’m a constituent from (city, zip). (If voicemail, leave street address).
In 2024, bad actors used bomb threats, cyberattacks and burned ballot boxes to try to disrupt our elections. I’m concerned we’ll see more of that this fall. This time we’ll have less security support from the federal government…
(WITH DEMS, ADD): …and a president looking for excuses to reject the results.
Please make sure election officials have everything they need to get our votes cast and counted, no matter what happens. The Brennan Center has a series of policy recommendations on how that can serve as a good foundation for us.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
EMAIL LANGUAGE: DEMOCRATS
We can find contact info for legislators here and for governors here. Please adjust, add, and reword as you would see fit - you will be most effective speaking in your own words! There is a more Republican-friendly version below.
Let’s talk about the authoritarian elephant in the room: we have a president who refused to accept defeat at the ballot box and attempted to seize power from the rightful winner. Trump has experienced essentially no consequences for that coup, and he’s now giving every indication he will attempt to steal the midterms, too. We should take his threats seriously.
There is no quick and easy way to address this danger. One place we can start is doing as much as possible to keep Trump from having an excuse he can use to reject the results.
In 2024, bad actors used bomb threats and cyberattacks and burned ballot boxes to try to disrupt our elections. Some of these attacks were ultimately traced to sources in Russia. While our election officials were able to handle these challenges, we should be fully prepared for the possibility they’ll try again.
This cycle, we have a federal government in place that has significantly stepped back from its previous role in supporting election security, cutting staff and funding. State and local governments should step up in their place.
Our state should prioritize election resiliency, working with administrators to ensure they have the expertise, resources and back-up plans in place to prepare for, prevent and recover from physical and cyberattacks. They should have what they need to make sure every voter can vote and every vote gets counted.
The Brennan Center has prepared a series of recommendations for policymakers on election security and resiliency so we can do just that, including:
Setting up interagency working groups on election security
Using state agencies to provide training and vulnerability assessments for election offices
Passing and enforcing laws to protect election workers and infrastructure from threats
Developing and expanding interstate information-sharing networks
Providing low or no-cost cybersecurity tools and services to local officials
Funding infrastructure and physical security upgrades on sites
Organizing scenario-planning exercises bringing together election officials and governmental partners
Developing election incident response plans with law enforcement and emergency management
Requiring and develop plans for recovering from cyberattacks
Please consider these suggestions as a baseline for our state. This should be a priority for us now so that we’re not caught unprepared this fall.
EMAIL LANGUAGE: REPUBLICANS
We can find contact info for legislators here and for governors here. We can send them this message directly by texting SIGN PPCCLW to 50409.
Regardless of party, we can all agree no bad actors can be allowed to silence American voices by disrupting our elections. In 2024, plenty of people tried, including foreign agents – sending bomb threats to polling places, attempting cyberattacks and even lighting ballot boxes on fire. While our election officials were able to handle these challenges, we should be fully prepared for the possibility they’ll try again.
This cycle, we have a federal government in place that has significantly stepped back from its previous role in supporting election security, cutting staff and funding. State and local governments should step up in their place.
Our state should prioritize election resiliency, working with administrators to ensure they have the expertise, resources and back-up plans in place to prepare for, prevent and recover from physical and cyberattacks. They should have what they need to make sure every voter can vote and every vote gets counted.
The Brennan Center has prepared a series of recommendations for policymakers on election security and resiliency so we can do just that, including:
Setting up interagency working groups on election security
Using state agencies to provide training and vulnerability assessments for election offices
Passing and enforcing laws to protect election workers and infrastructure from threats
Developing and expanding interstate information-sharing networks
Providing low or no-cost cybersecurity tools and services to local officials
Funding infrastructure and physical security upgrades on sites
Organizing scenario-planning exercises bringing together election officials and governmental partners
Developing election incident response plans with law enforcement and emergency management
Requiring and develop plans for recovering from cyberattacks
Please consider these suggestions as a baseline for our state. This should be a priority for us now so that we’re not caught unprepared this fall.