The right to vote is a precious thing. More than simply permission to cast your ballot, it’s the right to make your voice heard and decide the direction of our country. To deny that right to someone is to silence their voice and deny their dignity as a person and as an American.

This shared conviction has motivated thousands of brave Americans throughout our history to risk and even sacrifice their lives in the struggle for voting rights and African-American suffrage. In places like Selma and Danville, they set an example for us to follow today — to fight back, against both historic injustices and new obstacles to the right to vote. 

The truth is the right to vote still faces far too many threats here at home. We’re reminded of it when our fellow Americans are turned away at the polls because of discriminatory voter ID laws. It hit home when our own state’s racially gerrymandered House of Delegates map was struck down earlier this year, like so many others around the country.

And so long as felon disenfranchisement — an ugly legacy of Virginia’s Jim Crow Constitution — remains on the books, we know that the work begun by brave Virginians like Irene Morgan, Richard and Mildred Loving, Barbara Johns and so many others is not yet complete.

During the past two years, we have learned of yet another threat to the American voter, this one from beyond our borders. In 2016, Russia attacked our democracy using cyber attacks and the weapons of information warfare. They targeted both political parties as well as election systems in at least 21 states, while also waging a massive disinformation campaign via social media.

As vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I’ve helped lead the investigation into Russian election interference. So with the 2018 midterm elections approaching, I’ve had a number of people ask me: “Will my vote count in November? How can we make sure the election won’t be hacked by the Russians or another copycat nation?”

My answer is simple: Your vote matters now more than ever.

The Russians are neither Republicans nor Democrats. And while they may have favored the Trump campaign in 2016, their true goal is to shake our faith in democracy and divide the American people.

One of the most disturbing details we uncovered in our investigation is that Russians specifically targeted the African-American community to sow division and suppress voter turnout.

We learned this from Russian-backed Facebook posts exploiting the Black Lives Matter Movement and pitting Americans against each other on issues including race, religion and gun violence.

We now know that Russia had an army of paid internet trolls who, among other schemes, masqueraded as African-American and Muslim activists urging minority voters to stay home or vote for third party candidates.

And I believe with all my heart that the best way to stand up to this cynical, disgusting attempt to undermine our democracy and suppress your vote is to come together as Americans and go to the polls in November.

The good news, as we head into November, is that our investigation has found no evidence that any vote totals or voter records were changed by Russian hackers.

Last year, ahead of the statewide elections in Virginia, I led the effort, along with then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe, to make sure every voting machine in Virginia had the latest security and an auditable paper trail.

So I want to be 100 percent clear: Your vote counted in 2016. It counted in 2017. It will count this year, too.

The bad news is that Russia will be back, and we need to be ready.

While Virginia has made significant progress, state and local election officials must do more to defend our election, registration and voting systems. That means ensuring that voting machines have back-up paper ballots. It also means instituting audits, as well as providing additional federal assistance to those states that request it.

Working with my colleagues from both parties, we passed legislation providing $380 million in badly needed election security funding — an important first step toward strengthening and modernizing our election systems.

But that was only a start.

In the Senate, I’m working to pass the bipartisan Secure Elections Act, which will better protect elections through more effective information sharing and election cyber security standards.

But at the end of the day, our election system is not just another government program. It is the foundation of our system of government, which gets its power from the citizens who show up to vote. The day we decide to stay home is the day that power goes away.

The way I see it, the best way to fight back against our adversaries who want to take that power away is to go to the polls on Nov. 6 and exercise your right to vote.

The writers is the current senior senator in Congress from Virginia.