This case is yet another reminder that democracy protection needs to be the No. 1 item on the Democrats’ long-term political agenda. (Really, it should the top item on both parties’ agenda, but I realize that’s a naïve wish.) The next time Democrats control the federal government, they should pass a sweeping voter-rights bill, similar to the kind Paul Glastris has described in Washington Monthly.

History won’t look kindly on the political party that is trying to keep Americans — usually dark-skinned Americans — from voting.

Get your flu shot. Later this morning, I plan to walk over to a health clinic near my office and get a flu shot. “You should get one too,” advises Margot Sanger-Katz, a Times health care writer. “The flu is the worst, and it kills tens of thousands of Americans a year. The flu shot can protect you — and it helps protect people who can’t get one.”

As Time magazine’s Jamie Ducharme writes, “If fewer people get sick, there’s fewer flu virus to be spread, and the ripple effect continues. Plus, vaccinated people who end up getting sick tend to have less severe illnesses.”

Getting the shot doesn’t take long. You can look up flu clinics near you — including many drugstores — through a search engine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.