Last week, FBI agents showed up at homes across the state of Ohio, interrogating people and seizing their electronic devices. The targets were leaders and staff of the non-profit Ohio Organizing Collaborative, whose Youngstown offices were also raided. Their crime? Registering people to vote.

As the UE policy “Defend Our Civil Liberties,” [1] passed by rank-and-file delegates to our 2025 Convention, notes:

UE has warned for years that when the government claims the power to surveil, detain, and deport people without due process, it can and will use that power against innocent people, particularly those who speak out against government policies, and especially those who represent a credible power base, such as the labor movement.

Over the past two decades, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative has built a powerful working-class coalition that has won real fights for health care, child care, and public schools. They have registered hundreds of thousands of working-class voters. This has made them a target for the politicians who are gutting Medicaid and SNAP, busting unions, and making life unaffordable — because those politicians know exactly what happens if working people show up to vote them out.

UE has joined other organizations in signing a statement [2], “Stand with Ohio Voters,” which declares that “We stand against attempts by the federal government and partisan actors to intimidate Ohio voters and civil rights advocates.” The statement concludes:

When people show up to vote in high numbers, it’s more difficult for powerful, corporate interests to rig the rules for their profit. The Ohio Organizing Collaborative is being targeted because it is doing important, powerful work. But we will not be intimidated. We the people pick our leaders, not the other way around. Hands off our vote.

For more information, visit handsoffohio.org [3].