As midterm elections near, there is no question that we are facing a real and existential threat to our basic human rights and the fundamentals of American democracy. Engendered by the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency in 2016, and emboldened by the January 6 insurrection in 2021, we have an important opportunity to make sure our elected officials commit to standing up for the values we hold dear: the right to bodily integrity, the right to access abortion, the right to have your vote counted.

These fights have moved in full force to the states. Most people understand the importance of who sits in the governor’s mansion, but it’s also true that secretaries of state, state attorneys general, state supreme courts, state legislators, and county clerks all wield extraordinary power in our government. That’s why we are doubling down on “down-ballot” races, where voters can cast an informed vote and hold these elected officials accountable.

The ACLU is nonpartisan, so we don’t tell voters who to vote for, but we do inform voters about what is at stake in an election. Here’s a quick snapshot of the types of civil liberties and civil rights issues that could be on your ballot.

American Civil Liberties Union

Vote Your Values | American Civil Liberties Union

This election, join us by pledging to vote for your values, and fight for your rights by encouraging your friends and family to do the same.

Because the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, states are now more empowered to restrict or ban abortion care outright. So, we’re taking our fight to the states and elected officials to create a firewall to protect abortion access.

Starting with a ballot initiative in Michigan, we’re working to pass Proposal 3, which would ensure every Michigander has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make personal medical decisions about pregnancy, birth control, abortion, prenatal care, and childbirth. Michiganders are energized and motivated now more than ever to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade through this initiative, with a record number of signatures — more than 730,000 — putting it on the ballot.

In Vermont, we are working to ensure every Vermonter has the right to make their own reproductive decisions, including whether and when to become a parent, use or refuse birth control, or seek abortion care by passing Proposal 5. In Kentucky, our coalition is fighting against a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would pave the way for a complete abortion ban. We’re urging voters to vote no on Amendment 2 to protect the rights of people to control their own personal, private medical decisions.

While ballot measures are an important part of our strategy, elected officials at all levels of state government will have a hand in either protecting or restricting abortion access, so we’re engaging in key state races that will impact this right. State supreme court judges can and often do find that state constitutions protect more rights than the U.S. Constitution, making them a powerful backstop against the attacks of radical, anti-abortion rights minorities. Now, state courts will likely be the final arbiters to decide whether our reproductive freedom is protected in the states. So for the first time, we’re focusing on state supreme court races, specifically in North Carolina, to hold a pro-abortion rights majority of 4-3.

In Kansas, where pro-abortion rights voters recently defeated an anti-abortion ballot initiative, we have to fight to protect that win by engaging in state House races to prevent the legislature from gaining enough votes to override a veto from the state’s pro-abortion rights governor. We are also working to make sure that local prosecutors will not prosecute individuals accused of accessing an abortion in states where care is banned by educating voters in places like Maricopa County, Arizona, about the candidates’ positions in their district attorney races. When we elevate this issue in races in states that have banned abortion, it places pressure on politicians to not enforce bans or pass new ones.

There is no more fundamental right in a democracy than the right to vote. It is how we make sure our voices are heard. It is how we hold politicians accountable. It is how all the other rights guaranteed to us under the federal and state constitutions can be protected. Yet that right is under attack in state after state. The Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election has emboldened those who would take away the right to vote from those with whom they disagree.

In Michigan, we are fighting back against voter suppression efforts that took hold after the 2020 election and the passage of a ballot initiative in 2018 that made it possible to engage in no-excuse absentee voting and same day registration. We led the 2018 ballot initiative and are prepared to defend that win with measures that would prevent an election steal. Proposal 2 will allow nine days of early voting, require pre-paid postage for absentee applications and ballots, require military and overseas ballots to be counted if postmarked by Election Day, and require ballot drop boxes for every 15,000 voters in a city. It will also protect the vote against the anti-democratic tactics that other states used during the 2020 election, by establishing that post-election audits may be conducted by state and local officials and that canvassing boards may only certify election results based on official vote counts. Proposal 2 will enhance election integrity and increase election security by modernizing how we administer elections to ensure every vote counts.

And in Connecticut, voters will be able to pass a ballot measure that will allow early voting in the state.

In most states, the integrity of the vote depends upon the secretary of state as the state’s chief election officer responsible for the oversight and administration of elections. So in Arizona, Minnesota, and Nevada, we are educating voters about candidates for this important office. Secretaries of state can expand voting access by implementing measures such as automatic voter registration and universal mail-in voting, and advocate for a legislative agenda that pushes for greater access to the ballot.

There are many other important issues at stake during this midterm election. Across the nation, voters will have the chance to send a clear message to elected officials that they oppose efforts to ban books and prevent students and teachers from discussing race and gender in their classrooms. We will not let politicians infringe on our right to learn by imposing their own partisan interests or political and religious beliefs in our classrooms.

We are working to make sure that in places like Arizona, immigration status is not a barrier to education. Proposition 308 would enable any person who has lived in the state for two or more years and graduated from a state high school to attend Arizona colleges, regardless of immigration status.

In Colorado, the No Eviction Without Representation ballot measure will ensure that Denver families will have equal and fair access to legal counsel when faced with housing injustice. This will help ensure all people — especially communities of color and women, who disproportionately face the threat of eviction — have access to safe and stable housing.

Your vote is your voice. Vote for what matters to you, and vote for the people you know will protect what matters to you. Make a plan and recruit friends and family to join you at the polls. For more on how you can vote for your values and fight for your rights, check out our midterm conversation guide, available here.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., 125 Broad Street, New York, New York 10004, in coordination with Reproductive Freedom for All.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. in coordination with Vermont for Reproductive Liberty.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. in coordination with Protect Kentucky Access.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., 125 Broad Street, New York, New York 10004, in coordination with Promote the Vote 2022.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., in coordination with ACLU of Connecticut Rise PAC Incorporated.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. in coordination with Yes on 308.

Paid for by American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. and authorized by NEWR Denver.

Since the early 1990s, our nation has welcomed and assisted people whose countries have been devastated by war and natural disaster through the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. Today, many TPS holders have established roots in the U.S., raising families and contributing to their communities.

In recent years, the Trump administration tried to terminate TPS for six countries and undermine the program altogether, fueling anti-immigrant sentiment and threatening hundreds of thousands of families. But TPS holders fought back and won relief from the courts in 2018 in Ramos v. Nielsen. Unfortunately, that protection could soon expire.

Now, four years later, over 300,000 people are again at risk of deportation and family separation from the Trump terminations. Their fate now rests with the Biden administration. Unless the administration acts now to reach a just settlement in the pending Ramos litigation or to redesignate TPS for these countries, the Trump terminations could go into effect for El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua after December 31.

We spoke about the urgency of this moment with TPS holders and their children, who are leading the fight for a just settlement to their case as well as long-term relief.

Credit: James Matthew Daniel

Cristina fled El Salvador in 1993 and traveled to the US when she was just 12 years old. Her mother had escaped domestic violence and fled before her. Cristina, who suffered the same abuse, followed — alone. Cristina has had TPS since 2001, which has allowed her to work in a job she loves, in early childhood education, and to raise and support her family without fear.

“[TPS] gives me a chance to work. To walk on the street free with our family and not be in fear that we’re going to get arrested by immigration.”

Cristina’s younger child was recently diagnosed with cancer and Cristina’s health insurance ensures her son and her family have the health care that they need. Cristina also is financially and emotionally supporting her older daughter as she embarks on her undergraduate education.

All that could change if Cristina loses TPS. Cristina, her two children, and her husband are haunted by the possibility that their family could be ripped apart if she loses her immigration status in the U.S.

Cristina and her family are committed to defending TPS for themselves and other families through their lawsuit, and maintain hope that they will be able to stay together in the country they all call home.

“You know, many times people ask me, ‘what about if you lose?’ And I tell everybody ‘I can’t think like that because I believe in justice — I believe in this country. I believe justice will be served to us.’”

Credit: James Matthew Daniel

Crista, Cristina’s eldest child, is 18 years old, a first-year college student, and a vocal immigrants rights activist. Crista joined the Ramos v. Mayorkas litigation as the lead plaintiff when she was 14, after learning her mother was at risk of losing her status and being deported to El Salvador.

“I got involved because I want to help maintain my family together. I don’t want to just stand by. I want to be involved in the fight.”

If Crista’s mom were deported, she and her brother would have to decide whether to stay in the U.S. without their mother, or move to El Salvador, far from the rest of their family and friends.

Through litigation and advocacy, Crista fights not just for her own family, but for the hundreds of thousands of other families at risk of separation.

Credit: Constanza Hevia

Keshav Raj Bhattarai and his wife came to the United States in May of 2015 around the time a 7.8-magnitude earthquake tore through Nepal, killing thousands and leaving much of their home city of Kathmandu in rubble.

They had not intended to stay in the U.S., and only came to celebrate their son’s graduation from a medical fellowship program in Pittsburgh. But in June of 2015, the Obama administration designated Nepal for Temporary Protected Status, based on the devastation from the earthquake. Keshav and his family were relieved to be able to apply for and receive TPS while their country was struggling to rebuild.

But in 2018, President Trump removed protections for Nepal while the country was still recovering from the massive damage caused by the earthquake, in addition to other problems.

Keshav is a lead plaintiff in a companion case to the Ramos litigation – Bhattarai v. Mayorkas — which challenges the Trump administration’s terminations of TPS for Nepal and Honduras. While his immediate fight is to keep TPS, Keshav also hopes to win more permanent protections and stay in the U.S. long term with his wife and son.

“We are in a very critical situation, full of chaos, but we still are hopeful that the government, which works for people, will certainly make a decision in our favor. Though we are hopeful, we have fears of deportation; there is a constant fear that we might get deported.”

Learn more about Keshav’s story below:

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Credit: Will Martinez

Sorayda Rodriguez Motiño grew up in rural Honduras, where she remembers being surrounded by violence from a young age. Some of her neighbors were massacred during a period of severe regional instability, and she recalls living in fear for her life.

“Those are events that you just can’t forget,” she recounted, describing neighbors being killed and, as a child, having to hide under a table to avoid being shot. “When you wake up, and you hear bullets coming through the walls and you’re so little, you don’t know what to do. All you can do is hide under the table and hope for the best that one of those bullets is not going to hit you.”

Sorayda fled to the United States to escape the instability in Honduras when she was a child. Around the time of her arrival in the U.S., Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras, killing thousands and displacing many more, and leading the U.S. government to designate the country for TPS.

Now, Sorayda has lived in the U.S. for 24 years — more than half her life. She is married to another TPS holder and they live in Harrisonburg, Virginia with their two U.S.-citizen children, ages 12 and 19. She is grateful to have a stable job in hospitality and to be able to raise her children in a safe community.

But Soryada worries continually that she and her husband could lose their TPS, and either be separated from their children or be forced to take them to an unfamiliar place, far from their home. Her children have never been to Honduras.

Sorayda is a plaintiff in Bhattarai v. Mayorkas, where she is challenging Trump’s termination of TPS for Honduras. She and her family also continue to fight for more permanent protections.

“For my kids to know that a permanent residency or citizenship for their parents [is possible] means their future — to live with their parents here — is secure. It means they don’t have to worry about losing their parents.”

Learn more about Sorayda’s story below:

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Credit: Constanza Hevia

Imara Ampie and her husband are TPS holders from Nicaragua. They own a home in Northern California and have lived in the United States for more than 20 years. Imara is a plaintiff in Ramos v. Mayorkas, where she is challenging Trump’s termination of TPS for Nicaragua.

Imara’s husband has worked in building maintenance for the same school for the past 15 years. Imara cares for her two U.S. citizen children, aged 12 and 19.

Neither Imara nor her husband have returned to Nicaragua since they left more than 20 years ago, and her children have not set foot in Nicaragua.

When the Trump administration announced that it would terminate TPS for Nicaragua, she had to discuss this with her children. Her children are autistic and have special needs, and have been deeply affected by any discussion of losing their parents or the only home they have ever known.

The Trump administration’s decision to terminate TPS has caused Imara to feel sick; she has lost sleep and has found herself short of breath and anxious.

“We kindly need President Biden’s help so that all the families may stay in this country, because we need to keep contributing. We need to carry on with the work to reach our goals, our objectives for the future, and the wellbeing of our kids.”

Learn more about Imara’s story below:

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American Civil Liberties Union

Keep Families Together and Protect TPS Holders

Take action and tell the Biden administration to do good on our nation’s promise.