We need to talk about what’s happening in Ohio right now. Really talk about it.
Systems aren’t broken by accident. Voting barriers are designed. They work by accumulation – one rule layered on top of another until people give up.
Right now, we’re watching that strategy coordinated at the federal level. Rather than seek a sweeping takeover of elections, the current administration is testing constitutional limits one state and one county at a time.
They are weaponizing government agencies to undermine the security of our vote. Registering voters is not illegal. Organizing is not illegal. But making people afraid to do these things? That’s how you hollow out democracy from the inside.
Twenty-nine states have refused to hand over their voters’ most sensitive personal data to the federal government. Ohio said yes. Quietly. In February, without our consent. Secretary of State Frank LaRose handed over personal data on 8 million of us – driver’s license numbers, partial Social Security numbers. And he did it while Republican officials in Kentucky and West Virginia said no to the exact same request.
But the data handover was just the beginning. Department of Homeland Security agents have now demanded voter records from at least 6 Ohio counties with no stated reason. No explanation. No warrant details. And this isn’t isolated to Ohio, it’s part of a documented pattern across at least 8 states. This is coordinated. This is deliberate. This is testing how far they can push.
And in November, Ohioans will be asked to vote to lock voter ID requirements into Ohio’s Constitution permanently. Not because of voter fraud. Not because there’s evidence we need it. But because controlling who votes is the clearest path to power.
This is a coordinated strategy to control who votes and how. The real threat is sowing distrust in our elections.
We’re watching the machinery of voter suppression get more sophisticated, more coordinated, more brazen.
So here’s what we’re doing about it. We’re going directly to voters.
Ohio Citizen Action is in the field right now with our Voter Motivation program. Leading up to the 2024 election, our canvassers had over 56,000 conversations with registered voters. What we learned after the election was heartbreaking. Thousands of people who said they were committed to vote stayed home.
Our deep canvassers are knocking on doors across Ohio, having genuine conversations with voters who skipped the last election. Not to shame them. To listen. To understand what got in the way. And to help them see that this November, their vote is the answer to government overreach.
In the month since the project launched, we’ve already knocked on 13,000 doors and had 800+ conversations with voters who stepped back from politics. And we’re just getting started.
More than anything, we need people to vote. To show up. To say: you don’t get to decide for us. Our field teams are building that culture right now across Ohio – one conversation, one door, one relationship at a time.