The Communist Party of Ohio CPUSA condemns the outrageous June 11, 2026, raid on the offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC).

OOC is a civil rights organization that leads voter registration efforts and fights for democratic rights and economic justice. Besides raiding the main OOC offices in Cleveland and seizing papers and electronic devices, Trump’s FBI henchmen fanned out across the state, harassing former staff and volunteers.

Brennan Center president and CEO Michael Waldman said: “This appears to be an outrageous fishing expedition, an attempt to intimidate people working for democracy in our communities and country. It is an egregious abuse of law enforcement for political ends, and it fits a pattern of federal inquiries targeting voting infrastructure ahead of the midterm elections.”

We are deeply concerned that this investigation could be used as a pretext to freeze OOC’s federal and state funding and grants, delaying their release until after the November midterms. Such a delay would not only hamstring OOC’s own get-out-the-vote operations, but would ripple out to every sub-grantee organization across Ohio that depends on that funding to register voters and turn out their communities. Whether or not this is the stated intent of the raid, it is a likely — and convenient — outcome for those who benefit from lower turnout among working people.

This brazen attempt to intimidate Ohio voters and voting rights advocates is part of a larger attempt to stifle the voice of the working class in shaping our own communities, and we will not be silenced. We stand in solidarity with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and its affiliates, and applaud their work in our communities.

The opinions of the author do not necessarily reflect the positions of the CPUSA.

Images: Vote Squad by Ohio Organizing Collaborative.