FBI raid at office of Ohio voting rights group raises concerns of crack downs before midterm elections | Ohio
The FBI raided the office of a voting rights group in Ohio on Thursday, raising concerns that the Trump administration is cracking down on such organizations ahead of the midterm elections.
FBI agents raided the Cleveland office of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a grassroots voter registration group, said Prentiss Haney, a member of the group’s board of directors. He said agents seized computers and phones and also came to the homes of people affiliated with the group across the state and interviewed them.
“This raid is a complete coordinated attack that arms the justice department and DHS against people who are fighting to get access to the ballot on behalf of working-class voters and Black voters,” Haney said in an interview.
Haney said agents appeared to be looking into accusations of fraud related to the 2024 election, but beyond that it wasn’t immediately clear what the details of the investigation were. The FBI’s office in Cleveland did not respond to a request for comment. Trump won the popular vote in Ohio in 2024, giving him 17 electoral votes, and Republican senator Bernie Moreno unseated longtime Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in a pricey race that helped deliver the Senate to the GOP. The partisan balance of Ohio House seats remained unchanged.
The activity comes about a month after a senior official in acting attorney general Todd Blanche’s office instructed prosecutors to prioritize voter fraud cases. According to the New York Times. Last fall, Republican Frank LaRose, who serves as Ohio’s top elections official, referred 1,084 noncitizens who appeared to be registered in the state to the justice department. Federal investigators also collected voter records in at least six Ohio counties. Reuters reported in April.
dominant, first reported It led to immediate condemnation by MS NOW from elected officials and other civil rights organizations. “This is an unprecedented assault on democracy: these raids must end immediately,” said Shontel Brown, a Democratic representative from Ohio, whose district includes Cleveland. “Unfortunately, this appears to be part of a systematic effort by Trump and Kash Patel’s FBI to attack our elections and perpetuate more myths about voter fraud, all to undermine and challenge any election results that Trump does not accept.”
Sherrod Brown, who is running for reelection this year, said news of the raid was “deeply disturbing.” Cleveland’s Democratic mayor, Justin Bibb, said the FBI should explain the basis for the raid. “If these actions have a legitimate basis, they should be disclosed.” he said in a statement. “Otherwise, the public has the right to question whether civic engagement is being unfairly targeted.”
Trump has continued to falsely claim widespread voter fraud and has recently focused on California, where ballot counting took a long time after Election Day because it allowed ballots to arrive late. While Trump continues to provide no evidence for these claims, concern has grown that he will try to counter Republican losses in this fall’s midterm elections.
“This appears to be an outrageous hunting expedition, an attempt to intimidate people working for democracy in our communities and our country. This is an egregious misuse of law enforcement for political purposes and fits a pattern of federal investigations targeting voting infrastructure ahead of the midterm elections,” said Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice, a think tank.
