As a kid, I was always excited when our mailman, Danny, rolled up to the house. He drove a Jeep, and his steering wheel was on the other side of the truck — like in the United Kingdom — so he could hop in and out of the vehicle faster.

When Danny arrived, it meant there was something new and exciting for me to open. Maybe a birthday or a holiday card. Maybe I would get a letter from a grandparent or a friend who lived in another area code.

Young people wouldn’t understand this today, but the mail was our connection to the outside world. There was no internet. We didn’t have cell phones. Long-distance phone calls cost money. Letters were the closest thing we had to free – just the cost of a stamp.

Today, the mail remains for many a connection to their civic duty. While I grew up voting in person with my parents, today I hear many stories of people gathering around their dining room table, filling out their mail-in ballot as they educate their children about the importance of voting.

But if Donald Trump gets his way, this tradition will be dead.

Trump has said he wants to eliminate mail voting entirely. And he is taking steps to carry out that plan.

Back in March, Trump signed an executive order demanding the creation of a national voter list. Only those on the list would be allowed to receive a mail-in ballot. The motivation behind this order is obvious: Trump wants to control who can vote.

Now, in response to the rule, the United States Postal Service is making states choose: hand over a list of voters they want to vote by mail, or say good-bye to mail-in voting.

It’s blackmail of the most obvious form: trying to force state leaders to hand over a list of citizens to a dangerous government that can’t be trusted, so that it can use deeply flawed lists to purge voters. This rule will disenfranchise Americans.

From the elderly to college students, millions rely on the United States Postal Service to deliver their ballots. For the Trump administration, this is not an accident. It is a tool.

I find it tragic that a tradition that once brought me so much joy — rushing to see what surprise Danny would bring me through the mail — is now part of a campaign to silence voters.

We will fight back — and we will win. And this November, kids will gather around the dining room table with their parents, help them fill out their ballot, and excitedly watch as their parents cast their vote through the mail.

I’ve warned you about voter purges for some time now, and this week, I had more reason to worry. As Democracy Docket reported, in the Department of Justice’s filing seeking Georgia’s unredacted voter list, it argued that the National Voter Registration Act’s 90-day “quiet period” does not block states from purging voters identified by the federal government.

The quiet period is a critical protection for voters, meant to prevent eligible voters from being wrongly kicked off the rolls too close to Election Day. It does not surprise me that the DOJ is targeting it — but it does concern me.

The DOJ claimed that the federal government isn't bound to the same 90-day quiet period as states, and could therefore conduct a systematic review of voters. This argument has implications far beyond the Peach State. The DOJ is laying the groundwork to make it easier to purge voters from the rolls. We should all be worried.

Every Thursday at 10:00am, I wait for the Supreme Court to drop one of the opinions I am looking for. And every Thursday, they push me off to next week.

We have gotten opinions on bankruptcy, patent law and defrauding investors. We have not gotten opinions on mail-in ballots, campaign finance law, Trump’s executive powers or birthright citizenship.

The Supreme Court is taking its time. The longer it goes, the more worried I become.

With Trump’s mail-in ballot executive order already causing confusion, I am especially anxious about the Watsoncase, in which Republicans are asking the court to throw out all ballots that arrive after Election Day. If the Supreme Court agrees with the RNC, the risk of your ballot arriving late will dissuade many to not vote by mail. Some may not vote at all.

As we await the Supreme Court’s opinion, start thinking about how you plan to vote now. The best way to fight back is to be prepared.