Reports: FBI raids Cleveland office of left-wing Ohio voter group
Director Patel addresses an interagency press conference alongside partners from the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office, the Martinsburg Police Department, the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of West Virginia in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on June 3, 2026.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a left-wing Ohio voter group that helps register voters in the Buckeye State, according to reports.
In addition to facilitating voter registration across the state through its grassroots programs like Democracy Builders, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative previously joined anti-redistricting lawsuits, arguing that redistricting reduced the representation of black people in Ohio, according to MS NOW. The group also opposed “stand your ground” laws that allow a person to shoot someone if they think they are being threatened.
The left-leaning cable outlet reported that FBI agents also showed up at the homes of the group’s leaders and staff members with subpoenas, seeking information and electronic devices.
BREAKING: The Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a Democrat "voter rights" group, was raided by the FBI.
One of the organization’s board members, Kirk Noden, is the founder of ANOTHER leftwing Ohio-based firm that was investigated for voter fraud in 2024.
The Democrat voter fraud… pic.twitter.com/ZUucQtEhN3
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 12, 2026
Members of the group allegedly contacted lawyers on the same day as the raids to ask whether it made sense for them to sue in the future, according to anonymous people who shared the information with MS NOW.
Prentiss Haney, a board member of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, told MS NOW that the FBI agents approached people connected to the group, even though some of them were nothing more than volunteers, adding that the agents were “basically trying to fish for information.”
“They had agents all across the state going to civil rights leaders’ and community leaders’ doors intimidating them, coming and demanding that they talk about literally anything they would ask,” Haney told MS NOW, adding that agents “asked them if they’re committing voter fraud, just on their doors, in front of their houses with their children, and just following them to work and school.”
Haney also said that the agents approached some of the people without warrants, saying that these were “just straight-up intimidation tactics.” Haney told MS NOW that the FBI has no evidence of wrongdoing that would justify the raids.
“How can they distract and intimidate civil rights leaders and voters and community leaders who are helping people get registered to vote, and create a national spectacle about it?” he said. “That is the only reason why they would choose to do that, do it now, in the middle of a contested political election in the state. There’s no other reason. They have no evidence of that.”
Why would the FBI take an interest in a voter engagement or organization involved in registration and canvassing activities in Ohio?
What is really going on that the public does not understand when it comes to third-party groups and their involvement in election activities? https://t.co/LCtijhLliF
— Marcell Strbich (@marcellstrbich) June 12, 2026
Liberal Ohio politicians, including U.S. Reps. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, and Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton were among those to criticize the FBI.
