I have built a career fighting to make sure that every ballot cast by an eligible voter is counted. Yet, despite these efforts, hundreds of thousands of mail votes in every election still get rejected for reasons that have no bearing on the voter’s eligibility.

These ballots are rejected over small discrepancies or technical errors that disenfranchise U.S. citizens.

Sometimes voters make mistakes. Things like a ballot envelope that’s not sealed properly. Or even — this is unbelievable — that a voter forgot to list their mother’s maiden name on the back of the envelope.

Other times, they result from election worker errors, such as when they decide a signature doesn’t match the one on the voter’s registration card. To be clear, there is no requirement of penmanship to vote, and signature matching is junk science.

In an eye-opening analysis, Democracy Docket found 72,000 instances, across six states, of mail ballots being thrown out over inconsequential technical issues.

Recall the outcry from Republicans and many in the media when we learned about a tiny number of noncitizen voters in New Jersey. It was headline news. But when it comes to voters whose voices were silenced over a forgotten maiden name? Silence.

Whether it’s a rejected ballot or a noncitizen voter, the impact on the fairness of our elections is the same. And let me be clear: ballots get rejected at an exponentially greater rate — yet it’s treated as business as usual.

Those of us who care about protecting access to the ballot need to start working on changing that.

In a recent interview with Time, Trump refused to rule out declaring a national emergency or invoking the Insurrection Act to take control of the midterm elections.

“I’m not committed to anything,” he told the magazine.

This may surprise some. It does not surprise me.

Since day one in office, Trump has been committed to keeping his options open when it comes to undermining democracy — whether that be sending troops to polls or running for an illegal third term.

Declaring a national emergency around the elections would cause chaos. It would confuse voters, deter people from voting, and lay the groundwork for disputing election results.

Which is exactly what Trump wants. But this isn’t a new idea.

During an appearance on Wayne Allyn Root’s podcast earlier this month, far-right lawyer and conspiracy theorist Peter Ticktin insisted that Trump needs to declare martial law and seize control of elections from the states. A coalition of anti-voting activists that includes Ticktin has even been coordinating with White House officials to pressure Trump to sign an emergency elections order.

This isn’t a right-wing conspiracy floating in the deepest corners of the internet. This is a plan inside the White House walls — and we need to be prepared for it.

The Republican campaign to disenfranchise overseas voters is ongoing and relentless. A new lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party argues that the Trump administration illegally changed the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), which is used by overseas voters to register and request mail ballots. With just weeks to go before the midterms, the change could make it much harder for overseas voters to receive their ballots in time.

The change — in which the Pentagon removed a checkbox on the FPCA for citizens living abroad who have never resided in the U.S. — was made on a manufactured “emergency” basis, bypassing the lengthy process for modifying federal forms required by the Administrative Procedure Act.

The administration also removed state-by-state guidance from a federal guide that previously told U.S. citizens born and living abroad whether they were eligible to vote in each state.

This isn’t the first time Republicans have targeted the voting rights of these voters, and it likely won’t be the last. The GOP believes overseas voters are more likely to vote Democratic than Republican, and instead of courting these voters, Republicans have waged war against their constitutional right.

We will continue to advocate and fight for voters living abroad. That starts in the courtroom.