Opinion: Election interference is happening now. Here’s how Californians are fighting back

We’re past hypotheticals. Californians are voting in the midst of active, ongoing interference from the Trump administration. 

As two leaders at grassroots organizations representing everyday Californians, we are seeing it.  The threats are escalating by the day.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice took unprecedented legal action to pressure election officials to purge as many as 20,000 eligible voters from voter rolls or potentially prevent their votes from being counted. And just last week, the department arrested multiple individuals who they claim were not authorized to vote. We do not know much about these cases other than what the administration claims. We do know this administration has made a lot of false claims to justify interference and intimidation. 

This is yet another alarm bell for our state, and it is not an isolated incident.

Over the past several months, we have watched the Trump administration repeatedly challenge California's world-class election system. Despite numerous setbacks in court, it has continued escalating its efforts to intervene in our election process.

Federal investigators have subpoenaed county election offices demanding voter records. ICE has launched dragnet raids across the state terrorizing Californians regardless of immigration status and trying to make voters stay home. The Trump administration has repeatedly made misleading and unsubstantiated claims about California's elections, purposefully creating confusion and undermining confidence in our state’s election process.

Taken together, these developments are not one-off incidents but part of the administration's latest plan to block voters from choosing the leaders who truly represent them.

But we’re ready for whatever comes next. What happens during this last week of voting, and what happens afterward, will be consequential.  

Here's what the Trump administration doesn’t understand about California: We aren't backing down. We're organizing.

California administers the largest statewide election system in the country, with more than 23 million registered voters. Californians have spent decades building a system that makes voting accessible, secure and convenient, expanding vote-by-mail, early voting opportunities and language assistance so more people can participate.

That progress is worth defending. A system built for democratic participation requires the participation of people who understand how our elections work, who know their rights and who are prepared to stand up for those rights in their own communities.

That's why our organizations are part of We Are California's Can't Stop California campaign, bringing together community groups, labor unions, immigrant rights advocates and grassroots organizers across the state to protect our election and the power of our vote.

We're mobilizing hundreds of thousands of voters with conversations at their doors, by phone and online. We're training thousands of Californians to become neighborhood vote protectors, everyday people stepping up to observe local vote centers, identify and report potential intimidation or interference to legal experts, and make sure their neighbors know their rights.

We're talking with Californians from every walk of life: mothers, teachers, nurses, veterans, sons and daughters of immigrants, and people who may never have considered themselves politically active before. They understand that this election is about more than politics. Their vote is their power to decide their health care, their jobs, their rent, and the future of their families and communities, and they're stepping up to protect that power.

What we're seeing on the ground gives us tremendous confidence in the strength of our system and the resilience of Californians.

In partnership with election officials across the state and the election workers who power the infrastructure of our democracy, we are prepared for any attacks that may come. We intend to remain vigilant through the counting and certification process, and we’re ready to stand together peacefully and ensure that the results reflect the will of the voters. 

We cannot predict every challenge the coming weeks will bring. But we know how we're going to meet them.

What's happening in California matters to every American, just as any attempts to interfere in our elections in other parts of the country affect Californians. If the federal government can successfully interfere with the voting rights of Californians, Georgians or Michiganders, voters across the country have reason to worry about what comes next.

That’s why we're going to keep organizing. We're going to keep looking out for our neighbors. We're going to keep protecting the power of our vote, from the first ballot cast to the last vote counted.