This Election Day, democracy is at stake. Every vote matters.

The Jan. 6, 2021 riot in Washington, D.C. was a dagger aimed at the heart of our democracy. On that sad day, a group of angry extremists engaged in an all-out brawl with Capitol police; 114 officers were injured, one of whom died from a heart attack, two others from suicide.

Those who rioted came to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power. They didn’t like the results of the November 2020 presidential election and believe it was rigged, a lie repeatedly spewed by former president Donald Trump.

The former president has followed the authoritarian playbook – politicizing independent institutions, spreading disinformation, corrupting elections by claiming months in advance the election was rigged, challenging the election in the courts with false claims (60 cases were filed in 12 states – all failed), and stoking violence during all this.

Despite all of the evidence that the election was fair, 61 percent of Republicans believe President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected. The Washington Post reports 299 Republican candidates for the House, Senate and important state offices are election deniers; of these, 174 are running in districts that are safely Republican.

To say this is disturbing news is the understatement of our lifetimes. Meanwhile, Trump has raised over $250 million for his “Stop the Steal” misinformation campaign – money he can use for any purpose. It’s the Big Grift.

Our democratic system is and always has been a great experiment, and its success or failure is dependent upon our faith in it and its fundamentals. When Richard Nixon and his cronies tried to subvert the 1972 presidential election, leading to the infamous Watergate break-in and cover-up, leaders in Congress joined together to investigate. The Watergate hearings were stunning for their transparency and bipartisanship, a shining example of how democracy can work to fight corruption at the highest levels. Watergate became a positive inflection point for our country. It delivered a stark message: No one is above the law.

It reinforced the importance of the Freedom of Information Act, keeping government records open. The Presidential Records Act came shortly after, in 1978, establishing public ownership of presidential records, the very issue being fought in the courts after the FBI’s raid of Trump’s personal residence in Florida, looking for government documents – the public’s documents. There was also passage of the Ethics in Government Act, amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act, and campaign finance reform.

But here we are, 50 years post-Watergate, and our democratic system is under attack again.

Depending how this election goes, a number of extremists could be in the majority party, which would give their voice more weight. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, suggested the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017 was staged (60 people died, 867 were wounded). She also wrote that the deadly 2018 fire in Paradise, California could have been started by lasers shot from space by allies of then-governor Jerry Brown, to help clear a path for the high-speed rail project he was advocating for. No kidding.

Although your vote Nov. 8 won’t change whether Taylor Greene returns to Washington, your vote will ensure how our local government functions (see our endorsements, p. 22).

Every vote can make a difference. George W. Bush beat Al Gore in Florida by fewer than 600 votes. Bernie Sanders began his political career by defeating the incumbent mayor in Burlington, Vermont, by 22 votes. He later ran for Congress, then the U.S. Senate. Now he chairs the powerful Senate Budget Committee. A single vote can have ripple effects.

For the past several months our team has been dissecting critical issues to better learn about the candidates and what’s at stake. We’ve had enlightening moments, and exasperating ones, too. Democracy is clumsy. There are great candidates, others ill prepared. Far too many are running unopposed this election.

When democracy works, we can disagree with each other but still co-create a representative system that best serves the greatest number of people. Your vote for the right leadership and policies pushes our government to be both responsive and responsible, and keeps democracy alive.

BRADLEY ZEVE is founder and CEO of the Weekly. Reach him at bradley@mcweekly.com.