In the last few months, everything has changed. The rhetoric claiming widespread fraud and therefore the need to change the way we vote has gotten more attention. Efforts to limit mail-in voting and early voting by this administration have been stunning.

Donald Trump himself, speaking at the Republican midterm convention on Sept. 10, demanded his faithful raise their right hand and pledge to vote whether they are “registered or not.” He told them to “cheat like hell.” There was the president of the United States demanding his followers’ blind loyalty in committing election fraud. This action constitutes many things, right out of the authoritarian playbook, for one, and it represents the basest level of hypocrisy.

For months the president and his party have asserted that, because of cheating and fraud promulgated by Democrats, centuries-old voting laws need to be changed: end mail-in voting, require difficult-to-acquire identification papers, disallow same-day registration.

Such rhetoric is not new. Trump trotted out unproven claims of voter fraud in the lead-up to the 2020 election for the same reason he is doing it now: out of fear that the election will not go in his favor. Then, when he did indeed lose the election, he set in motion the big lie that he had actually won and the election was stolen from him. He became the first president in U.S. history to refuse to concede in spite of the fact that all the candidates for office that appeared on the same ballot never contested the results.

Not surprisingly, Trump made no such claims of fraud when he won in 2024. How convenient! Declare fraud when you’re losing or lose and avoid any mention of fraud when you win.

We need to pay more attention. If the POTUS is urging fraud, we can be sure he will attempt to go as far as he can, including intimidation at polling stations, to interfere with our legal right to vote. That will mean continued erosion of our economy and continued unprecedentedly high prices at the gas pump and in grocery stores while his corruption makes his family billions.

What can we do?

Standing back immobilized is not an option. The myth that one vote doesn’t count or my vote doesn’t matter can’t be further from the truth.

We, the people, must take our power back, and voting is one powerful way to show resistance to what is happening. We need to flood the polls with a turnout so big that our voice cannot be silenced. A massive turnout makes declaring fraud so much harder. Voting early also will minimize the chances that tampering or interference will occur on election day.

Voting now constitutes a statement of hope and courage.

Take pragmatic action. Check to see that you are registered. If not, register. Find out where your polling station is and make plans to get there on Election Day, Nov. 3. Even better, vote early or by mail. If you have loved ones in other states, particularly Republican-leaning ones, encourage them to make their voices heard and vote early.

Let us take back our country from Trump’s ruinous policies that benefit only the privileged and corporations and not you or me. Let’s put an end to tariff wars with our closest allies, an unnecessary endless war in the Middle East, and intolerably high gas and food prices.

Let’s have not just a wave but a tsunami of voting that will be too big to rig!

Jo Ellen Boskind lives in New Salem.