FBI Searches Ohio Voting Rights Group's Office in Fraud Investigation

FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Cleveland office of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative on Thursday, spending hours questioning staff and seizing computers and documents, according to board member Prentiss Haney. Simultaneously, federal agents visited the homes of employees, volunteers, and affiliated community members across Ohio, seeking interviews about alleged voter fraud. A person familiar with the matter confirmed investigators were examining potential fraud violations, though the specific focus of the probe remains unclear as the search warrant affidavit is under seal. The DOJ stated that search warrants require judicial authorization and that public statements by the organization constitute 'unfounded speculation.' The action is part of a broader pattern under the Trump administration, which has also seized election records in Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan, questioned election workers in Wisconsin, and sued more than 30 states for voter roll data. Ohio Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, Rep. Shontel Brown, and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, condemned the search as an attempt to intimidate voters and civic organizations ahead of hotly contested fall races for governor and U.S. Senate. The Ohio Organizing Collaborative had a paid canvasser plead guilty in a fraudulent voter registration scheme in 2017, and Ohio's Secretary of State previously referred over 1,000 alleged noncitizen voter registrations to the Justice Department.