British Prime Minister Winston Churchill observed that “it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried.” Unfortunately, several Republicans on the November ballot appear ready to try another form of government to guarantee that their party wins future elections, regardless of what voters decide.

In the fight to save our democracy, gubernatorial elections in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will be key battlegrounds. That’s because if the Republicans running for governor in those states are elected, they will have enormous power to determine whether former President Donald Trump or another GOP presidential nominee claims their states’ electoral votes in 2024 without capturing the most popular votes.

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Based on their track records, Republican candidates for governor Kari Lake in Arizona, Tudor Dixon in Michigan, Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania and Tim Michels in Wisconsin pose a danger to our democracy.

We’ve arrived at this point because of Trump’s refusal to accept the will of American voters and concede he was defeated two years ago by Joe Biden. Instead, Trump concocted a lie, claiming he was reelected in a landslide. Unfortunately, millions of his loyal followers believe this baseless claim.

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Now Trump is hinting strongly that he will run for president in 2024 – despite being targeted by multiple federal and state investigations over accusations that he tried to overturn his 2020 defeat, incited the riot at the U.S. Capitol, hoarded classified government documents at his Florida estate after leaving office and engaged in improper business dealings.

If Trump becomes the Republican presidential nominee again, he may proclaim himself the winner of the general election regardless of how few votes he gets. Should he lose, he could again incite his most fervent supporters to violence.

Lake has said that she wouldn’t have certified Biden’s victory in Arizona if she had been governor in 2020. Dixon said during her primary campaign that Trump won the 2020 election in Michigan but later said it was impossible to know. Michels refuses to rule out supporting legislation as governor to overturn Biden’s victory in Wisconsin, even though that can’t be done legally.

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Mastriano, who is a Pennsylvania state senator, took a series of actions to try to keep Trump in the White House after his election defeat, including meeting with Trump to discuss plans to overturn Biden’s victory, working to seek fake Pennsylvania electors who would vote for Trump, pressuring the U.S. Justice Department to overturn election results and chartering buses to take more than 100 Trump supporters to the rally that led to the riot at the Capitol. Mastriano has said that if he is elected governor, he could interfere with election results he doesn’t agree with.

Another key governor's race pits incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp against Democrat Stacey Abrams in Georgia. To his credit, Kemp refused Trump’s demand to reject Biden’s victory in Georgia.

But Kemp later signed legislation that makes it harder for Black Georgians and others who tend to vote for Democrats to cast ballots. He’s no friend of fair elections.

If Lake, Dixon, Michels, Mastriano and Kemp win in November, they could be able to rig the 2024 presidential election, and down-ballot elections in their states as well.

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For example, the Republican governors could sign legislation allocating the Electoral College votes in their states by congressional district, rather than to the statewide winner of the presidential election. Only Maine and Nebraska award electoral votes in this way.

That change would weaken the power of Black voters and other voters of color because they are frequently packed together in districts gerrymandered by Republicans. If the district system would have been in effect in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in 2020, Trump would have been reelected. Under the current system, Biden won all five states.

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The Electoral College is already undemocratic enough: It enabled Trump to be elected president in 2016, George W. Bush to be elected in 2000 and three candidates to be elected in the 1800s – all lost the popular vote. Manipulating the system to help one party or the other would make it even more undemocratic.

I’ve spent my adult life campaigning for Democrats, including serving as campaign manager for Vice President Al Gore in his razor-thin Electoral College loss to Bush in 2000. But like Gore and every other losing presidential candidate in American history before 2020, I accepted defeat with sadness and moved on.

Trump’s shameful refusal to concede his 2020 reelection loss and allow a peaceful transfer of power in the White House has badly wounded our democracy.

To help heal the wound, I urge all American who believe in democracy and want fair elections in 2024 to cast ballots for Democrats in the November elections, including gubernatorial candidates Stacey Abrams in Georgia, Katie Hobbs in Arizona and Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, while reelecting Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

Vote as if the preservation of American democracy depends on it – because it does.

Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, an ABC News contributor and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She previously served as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee and of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute, and managed the Gore campaign in 2000.