American democracy is under greater threat than ever before. This is our first national election under a president who has made no secret of his contempt for the institutions of our democracy, including the courts, the free press, and the election process itself. Worse, he is under investigation for colluding with a foreign dictatorship to swing the 2016 election in his favor. And having appointed Brett Kavanaugh to give him a majority on the Supreme Court, after Kavanaugh explicitly argued in 2009 that the president should be immune from criminal prosecution, Trump believes he is above the law.

But the polls are giving a more than 75% chance of Democrats taking the House of Representatives in this election, which means they could impeach Trump for collusion with Russia and other crimes. There's no telling what Trump might do to prevent that from happening. But we do know who will be in the best position to hold him accountable: international election observers.

Unfortunately, the international election watchdog ODIHR, which sent over 400 observers to thoroughly monitor the 2016 elections, has decided to send a team of less than 50 this time, and has no plans for any systematic observation of voting, vote counting, or tabulation of results. We must call on them to change their minds and deploy as many observers as possible to watch for all kinds of dirty tricks, including mass disenfranchisement​, intimidation at the polls, and hacking of computerized election systems.

We cannot allow Donald Trump to keep messing with our elections and undermining our democracy. Please sign to let ODIHR know we need them now more than ever.

PETITION TEXT:

ODIHR's election observation work has never mattered more. I am writing to ask you to be extremely wary on Election Day, and if at all possible, add many more election observers to ensure we get the best picture possible of any efforts to illegally alter the results. If your observers are forced to leave, please make sure the world knows immediately.

President Trump is openly contemptuous of the democratic process, and under potential threat of impeachment should control of the House of Representatives fall to the the Democratic Party, as now seems probable in absence of tampering. I wish your needs assessment for the 2018 elections had taken greater account of this dangerously unstable leader's possible extreme reaction to such a threat. I also believe your assessment is out of date because Trump has just obtained a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court through the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh, who stated, in a 2009 Minnesota Law Review Article, his support of “exempting a President—while in office—from criminal prosecution and investigation.”

We cannot accept the risk that the monitoring of this election will be insufficient to hold President Trump accountable for any illegal efforts to undermine our democratic process. Please make sure your election observation mission doesn't miss this crucial opportunity to help preserve democracy in the world's most powerful nation.