INDIVISIBLE El Dorado
Hands Off Our Vote Webinar
A five-person panel convened to warn that the 2026 midterms may face unprecedented threats — and to lay out concrete ways ordinary citizens can defend the election.
Indivisible El Dorado convened a five-person panel to warn members that the 2026 midterms may face unprecedented threats to the counting and honoring of the vote, and to lay out concrete ways ordinary citizens can defend the election. The moderator framed it as potentially the most pivotal midterm in the nation's history.
Joel McCleary opened with the gravest and least understood danger: a president's secret emergency powers — Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs), continuity-of-government mechanisms (COGCON), and communications-seizure authority — that in theory could be activated in minutes, without review by Congress or the courts, to step outside the Constitution.
Mary Small reframed the many specific threats around three simple goals: keeping eligible voters from voting, keeping their votes from being counted, and keeping duly elected winners from being seated. Yael Bromberg placed the moment in historical perspective, arguing the country has twice reconstructed itself after crisis and violence, and could do so again. Joel Ellinwood grounded the discussion in California and the courts, describing the state's decentralized, resilient system. Les Francis tied it together with the organizing lens of Keep Our Republic and the coalition work underway in battleground states.
The panel converged on a shared through-line: the threats are real and must be taken seriously, but doom is not warranted. The decisive factor will be mass, nonviolent citizen action — the largest possible turnout ("too big to rig"), a trained network ready for rapid mobilization, and a collective refusal to accept any attempt to discard votes or deny seats.
Meet the Speakers
Les Francis
Keep Our Republic • Fmr. White House Deputy Chief of Staff
A native Californian; protégé of Norman Y. Mineta; one of the national organizers of the 18-year-old-vote campaign leading to the 26th Amendment. Former Congressional chief of staff, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy White House Chief of Staff (Jimmy Carter), Executive Director of DNC and DCCC. Co-founder of Sierra Forward. Resident of Cameron Park, CA.
Joel McCleary
Co-Founder, Keep Our Republic
Resident of Washington, DC. Co-founder of Keep Our Republic. Served as White House Deputy Assistant to President Carter and Treasurer of the DNC. As President of Sawyer-Miller International, ran presidential campaigns in 15 countries. Led critical projects for DoD and DHS. Lectured at Stanford University. Graduate of Harvard College.
Mary Small
Managing Director, National Indivisible
Originally from North Carolina. Leads Indivisible's organizational strategy including electoral, advocacy, and educational impact. Previously worked for Detention Watch Network and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on migrant rights, racial justice, anti-criminalization, and human rights.
Yael Bromberg
Constitutional Rights Attorney • Adjunct Professor of Law
Adjunct Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. National expert on voting rights focusing on the Twenty-Sixth Amendment. Author of Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses. NJ Attorney of the Year (2024). Regular commentator on CSPAN, Washington Post, and the National Constitution Center's "We The People" podcast.
Joel Ellinwood
Co-Chair, Indivisible El Dorado • Elections Law Attorney
Retired after 44-year career as a lawyer specializing in land use, environmental, and election law. Moved to El Dorado County three years ago. After the 2024 elections, revived the local Indivisible group as a workgroup of El Dorado Progressives. Serves on the Steering Committee of El Dorado Progressives and the Leadership Team of Indivisible El Dorado.