"Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters."

–Abraham Lincoln

Warnings about the November 3 elections grow louder every day. Threats to jail local and state election officials who do not abide by the Trump administration’s Executive Orders; and suggestions that ICE agents and even the military will be sent to the polls have intensified. This would violate federal laws existing for 150 years.

Registered voters may face obstacles casting their ballots. The fear – once unthinkable – that voting across the country will be suspended has been voiced by current and former lawmakers. 

The list of troubling developments grows longer:

• President Trump's insistence that Congress pass the SAVE Act, which would require every citizen to reregister by bringing documents (passports, birth or naturalization certificates) to an election office. The time and cost to provide these documents would be prohibitive for many.
• Recent firings of Democratic members of the Independent Election Assistance Commission and resignation of a Republican member after facing pressure to quit 
• Spread of false information about the integrity of elections, e.g., specious claims that more than 250,000 non-citizens are on voter rolls. 
• Efforts to construct a federal voter data base that would use citizens’ sensitive personal information – thus violating federal privacy laws – to construct a list then used to purge voter rolls. 
• Threats by the Homeland Security Secretary to investigate and imprison state and local officials accused of not complying with Trump administration efforts to change election laws. 
• Trump’s request to the Supreme Court to allow an Executive Order that restricts vote-by-mail to remain in place until the Court rules on those proposed changes – even if the Court waits until after the midterms. 
• Hints that the federal government might take over – or prevent – the November elections on the outlandish premise of countering foreign interference or preventing a wave of non-citizens from voting. 

We at ClassACT HR73 urge everyone to make a plan to vote. Do what you can to ensure the midterm elections on November 3rd remain accessible to all citizens. Exercising our right to vote is the right on which all others rest. Together we buttress a democracy that has survived revolution, civil war, and a global struggle against fascism. Extend our nation’s freedom by encouraging fellow citizens to vote.

Our Resource Guide below shares the volunteer experiences of classmates as well as links to important non-profit, non-partisan resources.

PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY, PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE 

RESOURCE GUIDE

Click to access and print resource guide

“The most important thing we can all do in the face of such a campaign is to double down on democracy. We must vote. We must make a plan to do so, and we must help our family, neighbors, and friends do the same.”

– Hayne Yoon, Brennan Center Senior Counsel

Photo from www.acludc.org

1. BEFORE THE ELECTION

• Vote411  and Rock the Vote provide state by state information to register, validate your registration, and determine where to vote.

• Check your state for Early Voting dates, and your local community for the location of Ballot Drop Boxes. 

• Non-profit, non-partisan organizations help coordinate grass roots efforts to get out the vote. Writing postcards, phone banking, or volunteering to work at the polls makes the struggle to preserve democracy tangible and gratifying.

“What I love about phone banking is the relatively unfiltered opportunity to interact with potential voters from a broad swath of the American population.”

– Vivian Lewis '73

• Canvas in your community for your candidates of choice.

“Talking with neighbors and fellow citizens about the importance of voting while canvassing unites us all around a Constitutional right for which Americans have fought and died.”

– Jacki Swearingen '73

• Volunteer for “Help Lines” at voteriders.org to support voters by answering questions about Voter ID, registration, poll locations, etc. as well as write letters and text. 

• Join in the effort to encourage all eligible citizens to cast their votes in November. Check out Common Cause for ways to increase voter participation, and Democracy Forward’s The People’s Guide to Voting Rights.

2. ELECTION DAY

• Volunteer to be a Poll Worker or Poll Watcher. Poll Workers ensure the legitimacy of elections from the time they start checking in voters to when they secure ballots after voting ends. Find out the qualifications and sign up in your local community.

• Poll Watchers or Election Observers observe different steps in the voting process and report irregularities to election officials. The guidelines vary by state.

“I have worked as a volunteer poll monitor and visited polling sites to ‘ensure that bilingual ballots and interpreters were available to voters as was required under the law.’ After becoming a judge, I could still take part in elections as a non-partisan poll worker. Poll workers are ‘vital’ to making ‘American elections work.’”

–Marilyn Go ’73

• Many voters lack transportation to get to the polls. Form a carpool, or volunteer with organizations such as VoteRun.

• If you are turned away from the polls, ask for a provisional ballot and call the Election Protection Hotline for immediate legal assistance. English: 1-866-Our-Vote. Spanish: 888-VE-Y-VOTA. Assistance available in other languages as well. 

3. AFTER THE ELECTION

• If you vote by mail or absentee ballot, track your ballot. 

2026 VOTING ACTIVISM OPPORTUNITIES SPREADSHEET

Created by Marilyn Go '73, this spreadsheet lists non-profit organizations that focus on voting and voter participation. The list includes national and state organizations as well as those that concentrate on particular areas of interest.

Click to view

Don't forget to check out our Previous alerts below!

ClassACTion Voting Alert 2: Vote for the Arts!
July 13, 2026

ClassACTion Voting Alert 1: To Vote or Not To Vote
May 15, 2026

ClassACTion Voting Alert 2: Vote for the Arts!

Poster from National Museum of American History.

Click to listen to "Free and Fair Elections" (c. 1800) sung by Oscar Brand.

The arts have been an essential part of our nation’s culture since before we declared our independence – contributing to our civic celebrations and political campaigns as well as our daily lives. Enjoy the posters and music assembled by our Culture Counts team that accompany this alert!

Artists and musicians are everywhere in our communities – from the art, music and drama teachers in our schools, to painters whose murals enliven our towns and cities, to all those involved in creating and producing concerts and plays. They enrich our lives, offer inspiration and challenge, reflection and joy.

Poster from National Museum of American History.

Click to listen to "I Am America" (2020) by Shea Diamond.

But the arts and humanities are in trouble in this country. Music and art programs are being cut from elementary and secondary education as non-essential. Funding cuts in DC ripple through the economy and, because public funding has always been crucial to leveraging private support, funding for arts and humanities organizations is harder to find. States, cities and philanthropists shift priorities to fill in the gaps, and too often the arts are starved in the process.

What does this have to do with voting? Voting has consequences. Elected officials at all levels of government propose budgets and establish funding priorities that either include or exclude arts and humanities. Politicians who support the arts can play a critical role in keeping the arts alive and thriving.

The arts and humanities need your support. To help you get involved and take action, we have assembled the list of resources below.

ClassACTion Resource Guide:

Vote for the Arts!

Poster from National Museum of American History.

Click to listen to "19th Amendment" (2018) by Dolly Parton.

CLASSACTION 1: Register to vote or check your registration status, research the candidates’ positions, make a plan to vote, and VOTE! And encourage your friends to do the same! See our handy Voting Resource Guide, put together by members of the Voting: Our Constitutional Rights & Responsibilities Working Group. 

CLASSACTION 2: Call or write to your local, state, and federal elected officials and ask them to preserve funding for the arts and humanities. For templates, and contact information for your representatives, go to Americans for the Arts website.

CLASSACTION 3: The Congressional Humanities Caucus and the Senate Cultural Caucus are informal groups of House and Senate members who share similar legislative or policy interests. Find out who is supporting the arts and contact them regarding federal funding. Use the Congressional Caucus webpage to get in contact.

CLASSACTION 4: Support state and local arts organizations and artists. Search for appropriations information plus lists of organizations in all 50 states and DC on the Americans For the Arts- By Location webpage. The National Humanities Alliance helps build greater support at the local, state, and federal levels for community-based humanities organizations, and their State and Jurisdictional Humanities Councils webpage features a list of these organizations.

Poster from National Museum of American History.

Click to listen to "People Have the Power" (1988) by Patti Smith.

CLASSACTION 5: If you work for or are involved with a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization, check out theArtsVote Webinar Seriesof the Arts Action Fund to learn what your organization can do to encourage voter participation for people in the arts.

CLASSACTION 6: Learn permissible non- partisan voting activities for non-profits.

CLASSACTION 7: Find non-partisan actions you can take or support to encourage others to register and vote. For example, read through the League of American Orchestras Voter Engagement web page, including their recommendations to support at least $213 million for the NEA and NEH in FY2027 and to support the Arts Education for All Act.

CLASSACTION 8: Share your intent to vote to support the arts – and share this alert – with your followers on your social media accounts.

Don’t forget to review ClassACT’s Voting Alert 1: To Vote or Not to Vote, and our 2026 Voting Activism Opportunities Spreadsheet.

This alert has been prepared by ClassACT HR73, a non-partisan, non-profit organization founded by classmates at Harvard/Radcliffe to promote social justice and positive change. More at www.classacthr73.org.

In the 2024 presidential election, 74% (or 174 million people) of the voting-age population was registered to vote and 65% (or 154 million people) voted, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Almost 1/3 of Americans did not vote in our last Presidential election.

That same year, 87 percent of House races were essentially determined by a primary victory. The seven percent of total eligible voters in the US who voted in those primaries chose those winners, who would then go on to win their races in the general election. Thus that shockingly small 7 percent picked the vast majority of the House.

We need to change this paradigm. Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. With the launch of our 2026 ClassACT HR73 Voting Initiative, we hope to motivate citizens to head to the polls and engage in the crucial democratic process of voting.

ClassACT has assembled a 2026 VOTING RESOURCE GUIDE (click this link or scroll down to view) with links to handbooks and web sites to help you exercise your right to vote. You can share this guide as an attached PDF via email, through social media, or by scanning the QR code below and posting it on bulletin boards in your place of work, worship, schools, your gym…basically any and everywhere!

We hope you will share these resources with members of your communities. Reach out to citizens who may not be registered as well as those who are registered but feel disenfranchised and think their vote doesn’t matter. Remind them that “Voting is power.”

DEMOCRACY AT 250: VOTING RESOURCE GUIDE FOR MID-TERM ELECTIONS, TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3RD

We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.

--Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father, primary writer of the Declaration of Independence, 3rd President of the United States.

Voting for candidates in the 2026 mid-term elections takes place on November 3, 2026.

CLASSACTION 1: Check if your registration is up to date. Register to vote, see what’s on your local ballot and find your polling place.

For one-stop shopping, to go to the League of Women Voters Education Fund, https://www.vote411.org/

You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining… The one thing you've got going: your one vote.

-- Shirley Chisolm, first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

CLASSACTION 2: Educate yourself about the candidates in your community, the issues at hand, and how candidates uphold the Constitution.

Learn about important dates and issues from guides such as the AARP’s “How to Vote in the 2026 Elections in Your State” or the National Urban League’s “America at 250: A Guide for Defending Democracy.”

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

--John F Kennedy, 35th President of the United States

CLASSACTION 3: Vote in the Primaries. Your vote in your state and local primaries will make a big difference in the make-up of Congress in 2027. For primary dates in your state, go to the National Council of Legislatures “2026 State Primary Election Dates.” 

The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States.

CLASSACTION 4: Early Voting. Many states have early voting. Take advantage of this, to make sure that your ballot is counted and not subject to any challenges about timely submission. Check out Vote.org’s early voting chart for the 2026 midterms in your state. 

Voting is a precious right that for two centuries Americans have fought and died to protect. Let's all honor that sacrifice this election day.

-- Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States

If you want to make a difference, get out there and vote.

-- Geraldine Ferraro, 1st female Vice-Presidential candidate

CLASSACTION 5: Mail-in ballots and absentee ballots. Check your state’s rules on submitting mail-in and absentee ballots. Make sure that you mail your ballot well in advance of the cut-off date for counting ballots. Use this League of Women Voters guide.

We can all agree on the importance of voting.

-- Jenna Bush Hager, American Journalist, daughter of George W.  Bush, 43rd President of the United States

CLASSACTION 6: ELECTION DAY: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 IS ELECTION DAY. VOTE!

There's no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter.

-- Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

This guide has been prepared by ClassACTHR73, a non-partisan, non-profit organization founded by classmates at Harvard/Radcliffe to promote social justice and positive change.www.classacthr73.org.