100 Days to Go: Protect the Vote. Protect Our Future.

With just 100 days until Election Day, we are witnessing a coordinated effort to spread doubt, fear and confusion about our elections. Misinformation, political pressure on election officials and attempts to make voting seem complicated or uncertain are not happening by accident. They are designed to discourage participation.

But our response must be simple, clear and unwavering: we vote.

The right to vote is one of the most powerful freedoms we have. It is protected by the Constitution and strengthened by generations of Americans who fought to ensure that every eligible citizen could participate. The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, prohibits denying the right to vote based on race. It stands as a reminder that democracy moves forward only when ordinary people insist that every voice counts.

Today, that responsibility belongs to us.

The greatest defense against fear and voter suppression is participation. Make a plan to vote. Vote early if you can. Verify your registration. Learn your voting options. Most importantly, reach out to the people in your life and help them do the same.

Talk to your family. Call your friends. Check in with neighbors. Encourage coworkers. Offer rides to the polls. Share trusted information. Remind everyone you know that their vote matters and that their voice deserves to be heard.

Each conversation can make a difference. Each voter who shows up strengthens our democracy. Each ballot cast is a declaration that we will not be intimidated, discouraged or silenced.

Over the next 100 days let us become ambassadors for participation and defenders of the fundamental right to vote. Let us honor those who fought to secure that right by exercising it and helping others do the same.

It is our future. Our fight is to protect the right to vote. And we protect it by showing up.

Vote. Bring others with you. Make your voice heard.

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The views expressed here are those of the Indivisible Oregon editorial team, 

one voice within a broader Indivisible movement.