Dear John,

There’s a new effort underway to attack the freedom to vote. A federal agency called the Election Assistance Commission is considering requiring you to show a passport or other proof of citizenship when registering to vote using the federal voter registration form.

Sound familiar? Earlier this year, the SAVE Act, an anti-voter bill that included a similar requirement, failed in Congress thanks to widespread public opposition. The courts blocked a similar order by the president. But now vote suppressors are trying to implement the SAVE Act through the Election Assistance Commission.

We can stop this, but time is short. The agency is accepting public comments on this issue now, and misleading anti-voter messages have flooded the commission. Can you speak out against this attack on the freedom to vote?

This show-your-papers policy could block millions of American citizens from voting. Only half of American adults have a passport. Requirements for documents like a passport or birth certificate could especially burden married women who have changed their names, voters of color, and younger voters.

We’ve seen policies like this restrict the freedom to vote before in states like Kansas, where tens of thousands of eligible American citizens were blocked from registering to vote. Implementing this policy across the country would be devastating for our democracy.

This show-your-papers requirement was a bad idea when Congress tried to do it with the SAVE Act. Half of all Americans don’t have a passport, and if you make this change, you’ll make it harder for eligible citizens like me to vote — and block millions of other Americans from voting too. Do not go through with this!

The public comment period ends on October 20. Please submit a comment today.