The Right to Vote Is Not Optional

I usually do not venture into issues beyond Russell Township on this blog, and that has been by design. My focus here is local government, fiscal transparency, public safety, and the work residents elected me to do.

But there are moments when silence is not neutrality. Silence becomes permission.

Today, I am addressing an issue I have been weighing carefully: the raid of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and the broader attack on voting rights in Ohio.

During my short time in local politics and in learning more about Ohio politics more broadly, one thing has become increasingly clear to me. There are elements in this state that seem to believe the only way to maintain power is to limit whose vote counts. They dress it up as “election integrity,” but the pattern is hard to ignore. Limit drop boxes. Narrow acceptable forms of ID. Shorten absentee voting deadlines. End grace periods. Make it harder for mailed ballots to count. Then, rush a constitutional amendment onto the ballot to lock these restrictions in even further.

That is not democracy.

That is fear dressed up as governance.

Ohio’s voting rules did not change in one dramatic moment. They changed layer by layer. First came limits on drop boxes. Then House Bill 458 narrowed acceptable voter ID, shortened absentee and cure timelines, limited early voting, and locked in one drop box per county. Then, Senate Bill 293 ended the grace period for most mailed ballots, meaning a ballot can be postmarked on time and still not count if the mail runs late. Now, lawmakers are moving to require photo ID for absentee voting and to place voter ID requirements into the Ohio Constitution after Vivek Ramaswamy publicly called for it.

Supporters will say this is about election security.

But even Governor DeWine has acknowledged that Ohio elections are well run. Ohio elections are administered through bipartisan county boards of elections. Republicans and Democrats already participate in the process. Our elections are not some lawless free-for-all. They are run by trained public servants, local election officials, poll workers, and bipartisan boards that do serious work every election cycle.

So we have to ask the obvious question: if Ohio elections are already secure and well run, what problem are these new restrictions actually trying to solve?

Because from where I sit, this looks less like an effort to protect elections and more like an effort to decide whose votes are easier to throw away.

These laws do not fall equally on everyone. They fall hardest on seniors, disabled voters, rural voters, students, working families, people without reliable transportation, people who move frequently, low-income voters, Black and brown voters, LGBTQ Ohioans, and people already living at the margins of power. Those are the people who always seem to be treated as acceptable collateral damage when politicians decide that voting should be harder.

And now, against that backdrop, we saw news that federal agents searched the offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, an organization known for voter registration, organizing, and advocacy with communities that have too often been ignored or pushed aside.

I do not pretend to know every fact behind that investigation. I am not going to make claims beyond what is publicly known. But I do know this: when voting rights are already under attack, when lawmakers are rushing new barriers onto the ballot, and when an organization helping people register and participate in democracy is met with federal force, people have every right to demand transparency, accountability, and answers.

We should not be naive about the message that it sends.

We have seen what happens when power is used to intimidate rather than to serve. We have seen it in voting restrictions. We have seen it in raids. We have seen it in threats against public officials, advocates, organizers, and ordinary residents who dare to speak up.

I have seen it personally.

I have been doxxed. I have received threats. I know what it feels like when people try to make public service feel unsafe, when they try to make advocacy feel costly, and when they hope fear will do what persuasion cannot.

But backing down is not an option I recognize.

I did not enter public service because it was easy. I did not run for office because I thought everyone would be nice. I ran because I believe government belongs to the people. All of the people. Not just the people with the most money. Not just the people with the most power. Not just the people who already know how to navigate the system. Not just the people politicians think are likely to vote the “right” way.

Every eligible voter deserves access to the ballot. Every vote deserves to be counted. And every attempt to make voting harder should be met with scrutiny, resistance, and a very simple question. Who benefits when fewer people vote?

I have sworn twice to protect and serve our Constitution. Those words mean something to me. They are not ceremonial. They are not convenient. They are not optional when the politics get uncomfortable.

The Constitution does not belong to one party. Democracy does not belong to one ideology. Voting rights do not belong only to those who can clear whatever new hurdles politicians place in their way.

The only option I see is to fight peacefully, lawfully, loudly, and relentlessly for the country we were promised, for the Constitution I swore to defend, and for every Ohioan whose vote deserves to count.

Because voting is not a privilege handed down by politicians.

It is a right.

And rights are not protected by silence.