📢 Protect Democracy: Fair Maps, Fair Votes, Our Future
🗽 Protect democracy in 2026 with news on redistricting, voting rights, healthcare, and economic power—and actions to defend fair elections.
Why Protecting Democracy Matters
Democracy doesn’t collapse overnight—it is hollowed out piece by piece, not by accident, but by design. Powerful interests manipulate voting maps, weaken oversight, and rewrite rules to protect themselves while silencing the public. These tactics are deliberate, coordinated, and increasingly normalized.
Black and Brown communities are disproportionately targeted by voter suppression, gerrymandering, disinformation, and policies that make it harder to register, vote, and be counted. When these voices are pushed to the margins, democracy itself is weakened for everyone.
That’s why this newsletter exists—to inform, connect, and mobilize. We break down the policies shaping our democracy, expose who benefits from voter suppression, and share clear ways to take action.
Freedom is a daily act—and democracy survives only when the people are informed and defend it.
🗳️ Protect Democracy - News Briefs
♿ Social Security Disability Is at a Crossroads for Millions of Workers — The Seattle Times
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is increasingly failing the workers it was designed to protect. Outdated eligibility rules, severe staffing shortages, and a growing number of applicants have led to long delays and high denial rates—even for people with serious, documented health conditions. For many, the system meant to provide stability instead deepens financial and emotional hardship.
Why It Matters: When disability benefits fail, millions of workers are pushed toward poverty—revealing how fragile America’s social safety net has become.
🗳️ How the Supreme Court’s Mail-In Ballot Ruling Could Affect Voters — The Seattle Times
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling on mail-in ballots could reshape how states verify and count votes in future elections. Voting rights advocates warn the decision may make it easier to challenge or reject ballots, particularly affecting seniors, disabled voters, and people who rely on mail voting. The ruling’s impact could be decisive in close elections nationwide.
Why It Matters: Who gets to vote—and whose ballot counts—may now depend more on lawsuits than access, threatening equal participation in democracy.
⚖️ US executions surged in 2025 to highest level in 16 years — The Guardian
Executions in the United States surged in 2025 to their highest level in more than a decade, driven by renewed activity in several states and new federal actions. This increase comes even as public support for capital punishment has fallen to generational lows. The trend highlights a growing disconnect between public opinion and government policy on life-and-death decisions.
Why It Matters: A justice system out of step with public values raises serious questions about fairness, accountability, and the use of irreversible punishment.
🌪️ Trump’s Attack on Weather Center Would End Lifesaving Meteorological Research — Truthout
Trump-backed proposals to dismantle or defund a major U.S. weather research center would severely undermine storm forecasting, climate monitoring, and disaster preparedness. Scientists warn the move would weaken early warnings for hurricanes, floods, and extreme heat—putting lives at risk. Critics say it reflects a broader assault on science in favor of ideology and cost-cutting.
Why It Matters: Accurate weather forecasting saves lives—and attacking science for political reasons puts communities in direct danger.
Different policies. Same result: power concentrated at the top while everyday people are left with fewer choices and fewer rights.
What You Can Do Today:
Click here to Stop Trump’s Attempts to Intimidate the Federal Reserve
Click here to Pass the War Powers Resolution to Stop Trump’s Warmongering
Click here to Tell Congress: Stop Trump’s Illegal War in Venezuela
Click here to Ban Members of Congress from Trading Stock While in Office
Click here to Tell Congress: An Oath to the Constitution Requires Saying No to Illegal Orders
Click here to Tell Apple & Google CEOs: End your contracts with ICE NOW.
Register to vote, vote, and help elect leaders that will ensure safe, secure elections and are committed to protecting democracy. Share ballot and voting information with friends and family.
Donate to these champions doing the heavy lifting for our rights and freedoms:
This is our why
For nearly 250 years, democracy has been the lifeblood of this nation—not handed down by kings or bought by billionaires, but built and sustained by everyday people. It lives in our families and neighborhoods, in classrooms and clinics, on job sites and in voting lines. It’s the teacher guiding the next generation, the nurse caring for their community, the worker keeping society moving, and the voter who refuses to be silenced.
Power has always belonged to the people. That’s why protecting democracy is not optional—it’s our shared responsibility. When we defend it, we defend one another, our freedoms, and the future we are shaping for generations yet to come.
What We Do Next
Protecting democracy requires more than awareness—it demands action. This is the moment to move from concern to commitment, and from outrage to organization.
We defend voting rights by registering voters, fighting voter suppression, challenging discriminatory laws, and ensuring every eligible voter can cast a ballot that is counted.
We fight gerrymandering by supporting fair maps, independent redistricting commissions, and legal challenges that stop politicians from rigging elections to protect their own power.
We demand economic fairness because democracy cannot thrive when people are buried under debt, priced out of housing, or forced to choose survival over participation. Economic justice strengthens civic power.
We protect access to healthcare by pushing leaders to expand coverage, lower costs, and stop treating health care as a political bargaining chip instead of a human right.
We hold leaders accountable—at every level—by calling, organizing, voting, and refusing to let abuses of power go unanswered.
Power has always belonged to the people. Protecting democracy isn’t optional—it’s our shared responsibility.
✊ Who We Are—and Why Your Voice Matters
People Power United is a people-powered, grassroots movement built by everyday Americans who believe freedom, dignity, and democracy belong to all of us—not to politicians, billionaires, or extremist ideologues.
We don’t answer to corporate donors. We don’t chase profit or power. We organize for people—because lasting change has never come from the top down. It comes from communities rising together.
“We must stand united to protect freedom over fascism… There is no power like that of the people.” — Laurie Woodward García, People Power United
🌱 What We’ve Built—Together
Because of this community, People Power United has grown into one of the largest people-powered grassroots movements in the country, combining independent news reporting with real-world action.
✅ Thousands of bold actions taken daily to defend reproductive freedom, civil rights, and democracy
✅ Hundreds of thousands of members across all 50 states—showing up, speaking out, and organizing
✅ Top 100 on Substack in U.S. Politics for both On the Rise and Bestseller
✅ Zero outside funding—powered entirely by people, not special interests
This isn’t just a newsletter. It’s a movement fueled by courage, care, and collective action.
💥 Why You Matter
Every share, every heart, every comment, every call to action, every vote, every subscription strengthens our ability to advocate for progress—and to move forward.
When you’re here, you’re not just staying informed.
You’re helping protect freedom and democracy.
You’re defending justice.
You’re standing up for freedom over fascism.
Power grows when people participate. And together, we are proving—day after day—that the future belongs to those who refuse to stay silent.
👉 Subscribe for free to stay informed. Go paid to help us to continue this work to fuel people-powered change. This movement exists because of you—and it wins because we act together.