FBI agents searched the office of an Ohio organization involved in voter registration efforts, taking documents and computer files, according to a board member who spoke Friday.
The move marks the latest Trump administration action tied to voting or election activity in the states. It also comes in Ohio, where closely watched races for governor and the U.S. Senate are expected this fall.
Agents arrived Thursday at the Cleveland office of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and spent several hours questioning staff members, said board member Prentiss Haney. Founded in 2007, the grassroots group says it works on criminal justice reform, racial justice and expanding voting rights.
Haney said federal agents also visited the homes of people affiliated with the organization, seeking interviews and information related to alleged voter fraud. He described the visits as “intimidation tactics and harassment” and said he fears the investigation could be aimed at undermining confidence in the upcoming elections.
Authorities have not publicly explained the exact focus of the investigation. However, a person familiar with the matter said Friday that investigators were looking into possible fraud-related violations. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
The FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment Friday.
The Justice Department during President Donald Trump’s second term has launched several legal actions or investigations related to voting or state election operations.
The FBI has seized ballots and other records from the 2020 election for Georgia’s Fulton County and Arizona’s Maricopa County, and from the 2024 election in Michigan’s Wayne County. It also has been questioning election workers in Wisconsin’s Milwaukee County. All four are in presidential battleground states.
The Justice Department has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia after they refused to hand over detailed voter data that includes dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers. It has said in court filings that it wants the information so it can run it through a Department of Homeland Security program that checks U.S. citizenship, although the program’s accuracy has been questioned. The Justice Department has so far been on a losing streak in its lawsuits seeking to extract the data from the holdout states.
Early in his second term, Trump also ordered the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, the top fundraising platform for the Democratic Party.
Allegations of fraud in voter registration efforts are typically investigated by states and usually involve people working for groups that pay for sign-ups. Earlier this year, California officials opened an investigation into whether signature-gatherers were offering to pay people for signing a ballot petition. In 2025, Pennsylvania officials brought criminal charges against seven people for submitting fraudulent voter registration forms.
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Lauer reported from Philadelphia and Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed.
