Ohio Jewish, Muslim and Christian faith leaders are collecting signatures and calling on Gov. Mike DeWine to protect voting rights and assure Ohioans that elections are safe and secure.
Faith leaders, who gathered Tuesday at Union Grove Baptist Church in Columbus, said DeWine should call out voter intimidation, do public service announcements stating that Ohio has safe and secure elections and push back against a proposed ballot initiative to require a photo ID in the Ohio Constitution. The effort comes after the FBI raided the offices of a progressive voting rights group in Cleveland last month.
Ohio Organizing Collaborative was raided and the group's director of voter engagement Deidra Reese said they still don't know why. The raid is partially what spurred the gathering in Columbus.
Reese said she suspects she knows the reason behind the June 12 raid in Cleveland.
"I wish I knew why the Department of Justice targeted our organization. I have a theory it is because we do register so many people to vote, and the narrative is that our elections are tainted somehow," Reese said.
Reese said as of Tuesday, the organization has collected about 400 signatures and will send DeWine their demands once they reach 500.
A spokesman for DeWine confirmed the governor's office hasn't received the letter yet, but didn't comment further on the demands outlined at the Tuesday event.
Derrick Holmes, pastor of the Union Grove Baptist Church, said the raid on the Ohio Organizing Collaborative is a symptom of a broader effort to disenfranchise voters that includes gerrymandering and partisan rhetoric.
"Our demand is that Ohioans can go to the polls and not have to worry about harm. Our demand is that Ohioans can go to the polls and not worry about subjugation or even violence. Our demand is that the elected officials that we put in place protect our constitutional right to vote in this state and in this country," Holmes said.
Tala Mohammad Ali, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Cincinnati, said it's important for faith leaders of all stripes to speak up on this, especially herself as a Muslim.
"I had no other choice as a Muslim but to stand up and speak out and protect my rights and the rights of others," she said.
Ali said as a daughter of immigrants she owes the civil rights she does have to the blood, sweat and tears of Black churches like Union Grove that fought for voting rights.
"When Black people were denied their rights, their right to vote, to have access to education, to transportation, whatever, they fought. And because of that, we all benefited," Ali said.
Ali said now that Muslims are also increasingly under attack in the 21st century, it's incumbent on them to fight back.
