The purpose of this petition is to demand governors deploy their National Guard troops and state law enforcement officers to create a secure environment for American voters.

It is the Constitutional responsibility of every Governor to ensure the safety and security of every polling location and the citizens who choose to use them.

Concerns about threats, harassment, and violence significantly impacted polling places and election workers in 2024. In addition to routine Election Day issues, these events include:

Bomb threats: On Election Day and in the days that followed, at least 227 bomb threats targeted polling locations, election offices, and ballot tabulation centers in multiple states.

Arson: In the Pacific Northwest, explosive devices were detonated in ballot drop boxes.

Active shooter hoaxes: Hoax calls reporting active shooters at schools serving as polling sites were made in the Northeast, resulting in evacuations.

Intimidation: Groups aligned with election denialism organized efforts to staff election offices and recruit poll watchers to challenge voters.

Response measures: In response, election officials implemented enhanced security measures, including panic buttons, reinforced doors, and security cameras. Some schools opted out of serving as polling places due to the increased threats.  Even response measures were not enough to persuade voters and poll workers to risk their personal safety causing an unprecedented lack of participation.

Over the last 8 years, hundreds of thousands of names were erased from voting rolls, affecting state totals and election outcomes. As a result, some did not exercise their right as U.S. citizens.

Government aggression against its people has become a frightening norm as we lean toward a more oppressive government deciding what speech is free and who gets to speak it, the absence of habeas corpus if you are profiled and believed to be an undocumented person. These acts could cause harm to ANY American since there is no regulated practice to determine who fits the profile. A U.S. Supreme Court justice has basically said, If you suspect they are undocumented, you have the right to detain them, giving inexperienced and biased law enforcement officials the right to just point someone out based on their prejudgments.

Various methods of oppression, ranging from overpriced healthcare costs to the increase of Medicaid qualifiers and the decrease of SNAP benefits, will result in more sick and hungry people. To be sick or hungry carries its own mortality-affecting trauma.

Viral research and precautionary groups at the CDC have been defunded, putting the elderly, people of color, and those experiencing environmental racism at greater health risk as residents choose whether to venture out of their homes to vote.

State Governors are one of the last groups of elected officials charged with protecting the rights and liberties of their constituents and must address the upcoming risk of this combination of extreme oppressive situations and their effect on who is motivated and feels safe enough to vote in support of or to change current government leadership.

This petition is a call to action on an already overwhelmed state government to prioritize its citizens over every current threat to this Democracy. Why? Because for far too long the concerns of as many as 65 million disillusioned Americans have gone unheard, and they have removed themselves from engaging in the results of a participative democracy, and no one is talking to them.

Millions died for the right to vote, and now their grandchildren are becoming afraid to express any view that is not in line with the authoritarian-leaning government.

Since the U.S. Census Bureau announced demographic data confirming increases in non-white populations, the efforts to curb voter activity have been a strategy of the Republican party.

The incorporation of stricter voter ID laws has been the primary method to maintain what could eventually be a governing minority. Passing strict voter ID laws in every state since 2009 has reduced the number of non-white participants. These laws disproportionately impact the engagement of non-white voters.

Other efforts to reduce voter participation include misinformation and disinformation.

Misinformation is defined as false or inaccurate information that is spread by mistake, without the intent to cause harm. This is different from disinformation, which is false information spread deliberately to mislead and manipulate.

Disinformation is defined as false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth.

The deployment of ICE and other federal officers in metropolitan cities has bred a tension-filled environment for non-white voters.  Experiences with ICE have resulted in American citizens being deported to foreign countries. This, and the public rage directed at HBCUs, liberal whites, and non-white people for the loss of a Conservative activist, has created a fear people had not experienced since the Jim Crow era. It was during that time a random lie could result in another man's death. This is a social condition we do not want to return to. It has also created a chilling effect on the foot traffic and revenue of neighborhood-based restaurants, nightclubs, businesses, and other entertainment venues.

In August 2025, Washington, DC, restaurants reported a sharp decline in reservations, with some owners calling it a record low. Data from OpenTable showed reservations were down 20–30% year-over-year.

The 2026 and 2028 Election Days could set historic participation records as many in the country have been affected by DOE firings as well as educational and government funding revocations. DOD and other non-partisan government employees failing new loyalty tests, resulting in mass firings, have shaken the psyche of our society. Some have said it will take decades to repair the harm done from the destruction of government institutions, government-funded research, and the American safety net.

January 6, 2021’s day of violence revealed some Americans and elected officials are willing to destroy federal property, injure police, facilitate mayhem, and even murder to have their way. The rest of us just want to freely and safely exercise our right to vote for who we want to represent us.