Listen, I have been genuinely worried if not outright despairing about electoral integrity for a solid decade+ now. I signed up to poll watch and everything. I believe Trump’s threats to intimidate people at the polls will be met with a tidal wave of resistance. I predict record numbers of voters.
Feb 4, 2026 22:24It is not actually that hard to nudge the margins on the vote. Texas has done it for decades through attrition and neglect. When I talked to a poll worker about the number of ballots that got discarded this became abundantly clear to me. But now they are overplaying their hand bc they are scared.
People hate ICE so much right now that even the threat of sending them to the polls will galvanize folks to organize in advance. I do not want to minimize the very real threat and likely disenfranchisement of the most vulnerable. But I think a whole lot of people will show up in their place.
I mean, I am just some weirdo on the internet. What do I know! But this is what I believe. I feel more hopeful about the midterms than I have in years.
Still very worried about the smaller bureaucratic means of tipping the scale—rejected signatures, malfunctions, not enough machines so the lines are too long etc—but even those will be under intense scrutiny this round and they thrive in the shadows.
