1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

As a registered voter in Ohio, I'm demanding more than words — open an independent investigation into the FBI's raid on the Ohio Organizing Collaborative's Cleveland office. Agents spent hours questioning staff, seized documents and computers, and visited employees' homes, targeting a grassroots organization doing voter registration and racial justice work in this state since 2007. Board member Prentiss Haney is right: this is intimidation, not law enforcement. This raid doesn't exist in isolation. The FBI has seized election records from Fulton County, Maricopa County, and Wayne County, and the DOJ has sued more than 30 states demanding sensitive voter data it has largely failed to obtain in court. Voter registration allegations are routinely handled at the state level — there is no legitimate reason for this federal intervention. The pattern is federal power being used to suppress civic participation ahead of a competitive cycle, and Ohio's governor and Senate races are already drawing national attention. Sherrod Brown has called on the FBI to make all raid-related activities public. Ohio officials need to go further. Launch an independent investigation, stand publicly with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, and make clear that Ohioans' right to organize and vote is not up for negotiation.