There are clouds gathering around the upcoming midterm elections. Donald Trump won’t rule out having armed federal agents at the polls, despite its clear illegality. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has already made arrests near active voting sites. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing to block election certification in Alaska (if the Republican senate candidate loses), just one of the ways the federal government has exceeded its authority this season.
Whether or not these clouds break into a dangerous storm, there is one bright silver lining. Many Americans are preparing to protect the vote, even in the face of threats of armed intimidation. The courage and skills they are building are important to saving our democracy whether or not they are needed on Election Day.
An experienced nonviolence trainer based in Philadelphia, I have been inspired by the people I’ve trained this year. In states across the country, I have seen ordinary people roleplay how they would escort voters past masked ICE agents. They also practice what they might say to an agitated bystander who is understandably outraged by militia members near the polls.
Drawing on their experience in more familiar situations, these civilian citizens suggest showing empathy with angry witnesses and giving them productive ways to help, such as recording voter intimidation and helping to collect accurate details about it for the army of lawyers on standby this election. Groups that have never sung together before are bursting into harmony, recalling that singing helped people combat fear in the civil rights movement and the mobilization in Minnesota early this year.
From years of peacekeeping in the streets of Philadelphia, I know that grounding practices enable people to assess what is actually happening rather than getting wound up by rumors, something especially important this election, when rumors could depress the vote as effectively as real threats. Preparing for the day with meditation, prayer, deep breathing, or singing can also help people discern when to engage a situation and when to distance from it. Any intervention will be more likely to succeed if it is done with inner calm, even when the outer situation is chaotic. Training helps people notice when they are knocked off their center and gives them a chance to roleplay again after taking steps to reground and rethink their options.
Whatever happens this election season, we will remain in a time of political polarization and protest, where de-escalation and standing up to injustice are both needed.
The groups I’ve worked with are just a small part of a national training surge. Common Cause has trained 16,000 volunteers to observe polling places and report anything potentially concerning. State Democratic parties have trained an estimated 10,000. There are literally hundreds of other organizations preparing people, some nationally-known, like Indivisible and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Others are local, like Grassroots Organizing Western Wisconsin (GROWW) and Changing the Conversation Together, which sponsored a recent Philadelphia training in partnership with The Philadelphia Citizen.
The national bipartisan organization Braver Angels is organizing “pairs at the polls,” where a Republican and a Democrat will go hang out together at polling places to model civil and courageous citizenship. They are also hosting national online gatherings where people of different faiths and political affiliations can pray together for “a free, fair election that honors the will of the people.” Their approach builds other muscles that are needed to protect democracy for the long haul.
Why is all this expenditure of energy a silver lining? Having so many people prepared to stand up to voter intimidation will hopefully discourage its use, this year and in future elections. If armed government agents do show up at the polls, having more people with de-escalation skills will hopefully temper their impact. Whatever happens this election season, we will remain in a time of political polarization and protest, where de-escalation and standing up to injustice are both needed. I know from training people in civil disobedience that preparing to do something brave helps to build our courage muscles, making us more likely to volunteer to do something brave in the future. Given the lengths federal officials are going to this election, it seems likely that ordinary citizens will need to continue to show up to protect our vote and other rights.
More than one pundit has speculated that fear is the point of all the Trump administration’s recent maneuvering. From what I’ve seen, they are inadvertently inspiring bravery. Last week, as I was wrapping up an online training for volunteers in rural Wisconsin, I was surprised to find myself getting teary. Since August of 2025, I’ve traveled to every time zone in the continental United States, offering nonviolence trainings while on tour for my latest book, Common Ground. Listening to this relatively small group recount their takeaways from the training, I was struck by how brave they sounded and how I had met people like them everywhere I’ve traveled. Now back home in Philly, I feel more hopeful knowing that, though we are the city where American democracy was born, we are not alone in the struggle to protect it.
Eileen Flanagan is a Philadelphia-based nonviolence trainer and the author of Common Ground: How the Crisis of the Earth is Saving Us from Our Illusion of Separation.
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