1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to safeguard our elections from potential federal interference and manipulation. Recent developments suggest a concerning pattern of groundwork being laid to justify federal intervention in state election administration under the guise of security or integrity concerns. History shows us that authoritarianism rarely arrives through dramatic action. Instead, it advances through incremental erosion of democratic norms. We saw this barrier breached on January 6, 2021, when an attempt was made to overturn a legitimate election. Once that psychological threshold is crossed, further interference becomes easier to justify and execute. The tactics of concern include pressure on state election officials, replacement of experienced election administrators with partisan actors, reduction of polling locations in specific districts, deployment of federal agents to polling places under claims of ensuring integrity, and coordinated disinformation campaigns about fraud before votes are even cast. These methods do not require canceling elections outright. They simply need to make participation feel futile or risky enough to suppress turnout. I am particularly concerned about scenarios involving manufactured domestic chaos, emergency declarations, or claims that instability makes safe elections impossible. Such justifications could be used to argue for postponements or federal takeover of election administration. Administrative changes, voter roll purges, and intimidating federal presence at polling locations can fundamentally undermine free and fair elections without formally suspending them. I need you to publicly commit to defending state sovereignty over election administration, opposing any federal deployment to polling locations absent genuine threats, supporting legislation that protects election officials from undue pressure and removal, and speaking out immediately against any rhetoric suggesting elections should be delayed or federally controlled. Our democracy depends on elections that are free from interference and accessible to all eligible voters. I am counting on you to stand firm against any attempts to erode these fundamental principles.