This presidential election, the most important since 1860 when Lincoln’s victory saved the Union, will be decided by relatively few votes in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, just like in 2016 and 2020. The race is a virtual tie and your freedoms are on the ballot and in grave danger.

What’s really at stake on Nov. 5?

FREEDOM TO: have an abortion and access to all health care needs for women; have equality for LGBTQ+ people; learn the true history of the United States; select the next Supreme Court justice(s) and hundreds of federal judges; experience a safe, sustainable environment, and to have the impacts of climate change minimized.

FREEDOM FROM: gun violence; a presidential candidate who feels he’s above the law; autocracy and an autocratic demagogue; book banning; climate change denial; crushing tariffs that will dramatically increase prices; tax cuts for the rich; four years of a tsunami of lies and conspiracy theories; and Project 2025, which lays out what a second Donald Trump presidency would seek to accomplish:

1. Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life by prioritizing heterosexual married couples while explicitly affirming these arrangements as superior for raising children and a societal structure.

2. Dismantle the administrative state, including independent agencies like the Department of Justice being placed under direct presidential control, and eliminate job protections for thousands of government employees, who could then be replaced by political appointees.

3. Secure God-given individual rights to live freely and to promote such evangelical goals as eliminating abortion, public funding for private religious schools, and bringing the Bible into public school classrooms.

4. Undo climate change efforts by slashing federal money for research and investment in renewable energy and give the oil and natural gas companies permission to “drill, baby drill.”

Having made contributions and spent time volunteering, as we guess you may have, we want you, in the spirit of Michelle Obama’s exhortation to “Do Something,” to consider asking 10/25/50/75/100 friends, colleagues, and family members to make a “stretch” contribution and/or volunteer today to elect Kamala Harris president — essential — and to ensure that Democrats retain control of the Senate and regain a majority in the House, less than 30 days from now.

We know it’s a big ask, but when we watch the election results roll in, we want to know, as hopefully you do, that you and we did our best for the future of our democracy and our country.

Here are a few concrete actions you can take:

■Here is the link for people to contribute to the Harris Victory Fund: hsecure.actblue.com/donate/kamalaharris2024/.

■Senate Races: Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Jon Tester (Montana) are the most endangered as they represent very red states. Sherrod Brown: sherrodbrown.com/, Jon Tester: jontester.com/.

■Volunteer opportunity: Write letters to voters in swing states through Vote Forward: https://votefwd.org/swingleft/. Write postcards: The Turnout Project to encourage voter turnout in PA, jane.r.cross@gmail.com.

■Send this article to people in the seven swing states.

We won’t go back! We are moving forward with Kamala and Tim. Act like it’s 1860!

P.S. As Martin Luther King Jr. said: “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are faced with the fierce urgency of now … there is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”

Allen J. Davis is an educator, racial justice activist, and co-chair of the board of the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding and a member of the Racial Justice Rising Coordinating Committee, both based in Greenfield. He lives in Dublin, New Hampshire.