They’re coming for your right to vote. We’re not going to let them have it.

The millions of eligible voters our organizations represent know this is not true. Racial disparities in political participation remain deep, persistent, and consequential. And Black voters will not be the only ones impacted.

People of color, young people, women and economically disadvantaged Americans across the country should take note: What is happening in Georgia could become a model for other states to follow.

We’re already seeing efforts to further diminish Latino representation. For example, last summer, Texas redrew its congressional map to splinter Latino communities across new districts, diluting their voting power in a state with some of the most draconian voter access laws. The Supreme Court’s latest decision now makes that map permanent.

Barriers to full voter participation are already steep

Under Callais, the gutting of Latino representation will likely accelerate - and become nearly impossible to reverse. In the U.S., there are 36 million eligible Latino voters. They are decisive in every major swing state. Nearly one million more turn 18 each year - yet almost half remain unregistered. Callais could deepen these gaps, making it easier for lawmakers to weaken districts where Latino voters comprise the majority.

The Supreme Court’s decision is another step in a coordinated attack to limit who gets to vote in our country. President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressured Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would eliminate the online and mail registration methods 83% of voters relied on in the 2023-2024 cycle. Twenty-three states, including Georgia, have already codified proof-of-citizenship requirements, narrowing ID laws, curtailing vote-by-mail, and purging voter rolls.

At the same time, the Trump administration has sued 29 states, demanding unredacted voter rolls with private and personal information. They’ve dismantled key federal election security infrastructure - firing national security and cybersecurity officials who tracked threats from foreign interference - and repeatedly attempted to interfere in state election administration.

The barriers to full voter participation are already steep. These actions make them steeper. Today, people of color, young voters, and unmarried women make up 64% of the voting-eligible population, but account for more than 70% of eligible Americans who are not registered.

More voters than ever are casting ballots, however. In 2025, voting saw a 25-year high for off-year election turnout. Voters who have never engaged before are registering. Voters who stepped back are returning.

Of course, voting power is the engine that drives our elections. Securing a fair and free election requires infrastructure - the unglamorous but essential work that happens long before anyone steps into a polling booth.

Exercise your right to vote. Help your neighbors do so.

Credit: Ralph Alswang

Credit: Ralph Alswang

Elections require organizations like UnidosUS that meet voters where they are through knocking on doors and running registration drives in neighborhoods, parishes, and community centers.

They also require organizations like the Voter Participation Center, which has built a proven model for reaching Americans least likely to be registered and delivering official voter registration materials directly to the doorsteps of eligible voters who have historically been left behind.

Together, our organizations work to close exactly the gaps these laws look to widen.

From the Mississippi Freedom Summer volunteers who registered Black voters in the face of violent reprisal, to the League of Women Voters who built civic participation infrastructure across generations, to the community organizers today running know-your-rights hotlines, every expansion of our democracy has been built by people who believed the franchise was worth the fight. 

That great American tradition was demanded, organized, and earned, and it is being carried forward right now in the face of the most coordinated assault on voter access in modern American history.

To every eligible voter: The government is working this hard to keep you away from the ballot because your vote is that powerful. This intimidation campaign is a sign that your participation matters, and a reminder that elections have consequences.

So, we call on each of our fellow Americans to get registered, exercise your right to vote, and help your neighbors do the same. And when they come up with new ways to make it harder to vote - and they will - remember that you are the latest in a long line of Americans who were told their vote was not welcome and fearlessly chose to make their voices heard.

Janet Murguía is president & CEO of UnidosUS and Tom Lopach is president and CEO of the Voter Participation Center.

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