If you are a lawyer, you are an “officer of the court,” that is, a “person who has an obligation to promote justice and effective operation of the judicial system.” And, in becoming a lawyer, you swore to uphold the constitutions of the United States and of your state. We lawyers then have a special obligation to step up now to protect the electoral system that is the very foundation of our democracy and the rule of law.

That’s because the threats to our elections are growing more formidable and varied with each election cycle. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, for the upcoming election we can expect to see refusals to concede, refusals to certify election results, efforts to discredit voting machines, efforts to tamper with voting data and equipment, massive public records requests, recruitment of election deniers to serve as poll watchers and workers, threats against election officials and workers, voter intimidation, mass voter challenges, “election police forces,”  anti-voter lawsuits, anti-voter legislation and unprecedented levels of disinformation.