Make Your Voice Heard: Sign petitions, call Congress and more
- Indivisible NEO
- Jun 19
- 6 min read
Last week felt unusually dark and surreal.
For 115 days, Democrats in Congress held the line, refusing to fund ICE and Border Patrol without real accountability reforms after federal officers shot and killed two protesters in Minneapolis earlier this year. On Tuesday, Republicans blew past that resistance anyway, using reconciliation to ram through a roughly $70 billion funding package — the second multibillion-dollar infusion for those agencies in the last year — on a party-line vote of 214-212, with zero reforms attached. The bill funds ICE and Border Patrol through the rest of Trump's term.
The daily grind of grift, cruelty, and corruption was capped off last Thursday when roughly 100 federal Homeland Security and FBI agents raided the Cleveland offices — and the homes of staff — of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, one of our state's most respected voting rights organizations, reportedly over alleged voter fraud. Then, adding insult to injury, Trump turned the people's house into a three-ring circus sponsored by Bud Light, racism, crypto and traumatic brain injuries.
But there was also good news.
In Washington, D.C., a federal court ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by Ohio's own Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, ordering Trump's name removed from the Kennedy Center. The administration spent last week trying every last-minute maneuver — including a failed emergency appeal — to delay taking it down before finally complying.
And after monumental pushback from the caregiving and disability communities, Statehouse Republicans scrapped the provision in House Bill 795 that would have barred family members from being paid through Medicaid to care for their disabled loved ones. Dozens of disabled Ohioans and family caregivers had to show up and testify, making difficult trips to Columbus to tell heart wrenching stories, before Republican lawmakers backed down. One especially powerful testimony from a Cleveland mother can (and should) be viewed here.
Action List
Stand with Ohio voters: Join #HandsOffOhio
In direct response to last week's raid, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and a coalition of partner organizations launched Hands Off Ohio, a rapid-response campaign pushing back on what they're calling a deliberate attempt to intimidate voters and the organizations that help them register and turn out. Here's how to plug in:
Show up Thursday. Join the Freedom Summer Kickoff Rally this Thursday, June 18 at 1 p.m. (Updated location: Bethany Baptist Church, 1211 E. 105th St., Cleveland, OH 44118). Speakers include college students, faith leaders, workers and elected officials from across the state. RSVP here.
Chip in. Donate to keep the work going at movement.vote/ohio.
Join the National Strategy Call tomorrow, June 17 at 4 p.m.
Organizational leaders: Add your group's name to the growing list standing with OOC here.
Spread the word using the Hands Off Ohio communications toolkit here.
Indivisible NEO has created a graphics carousel that you can post to your Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts. Click here to download the assets.
Stay tuned for more opportunities to get into the fight for free and fair elections.
Tell Congress to reject warrantless, AI-powered surveillance
Section 702 of FISA — the post-9/11 law that has authorized sweeping warrantless surveillance for nearly two decades — expired on June 12. Congress now has to decide whether, and how, to bring it back. That decision carries extra weight given reports that the administration wants to pair this surveillance power with AI to dramatically expand its reach. As written, the law allows warrantless backdoor searches, offers little protection against the government targeting critics, activists, or communities of color, and chills our freedom of speech and association. The last time this came up for reauthorization, it sailed through Congress with bipartisan support and no real reform. We can't let that happen again.
Email your senators: Oppose the Clayton nomination
After public outcry sank Trump's first pick to lead the nation's intelligence community, he's now nominated Jay Clayton — a corporate lawyer with little intelligence experience, a friendly golf relationship with the president and reported financial ties to both Venezuela and Jeffrey Epstein. These are the very kinds of entanglements a Director of National Intelligence is supposed to scrutinize. The pressure campaign worked once. Let's keep it up until Trump nominates someone actually qualified, instead of another loyalist.
Join us this Saturday for Coffee & Community at Cafe Roig
June 20, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. at Centrovilla25
3140 W. 25th Street, Cleveland; when you enter Centrovilla25, Cafe Roig is the first kiosk to your left
Join us this Saturday at 10:30 AM for a laid-back morning of coffee and conversation at Café Roig, inside CentroVilla25 — Cleveland's new Latino market hall and small-business incubator in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood. We picked this spot for our first summer meetup not just for the coffee (grown on owner Ivy Roig's family farm in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico) and pastries, but because CentroVilla25 represents exactly the kind of immigrant- and Latino-owned small business community we want to show up for right now. RSVP here.
Save the date: Teach-in featuring the Ohio Ballot Initiative
July 13, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. | Cuyahoga County Public Library
6155 Engle Rd., Brook Park, Ohio
Curious about what it takes to get an issue on the ballot in Ohio? Join us for an interactive program to learn how the Ohio Ballot Initiative system works, where it faces challenges, and how Ohioans can help ensure it remains fair and accessible. You'll leave with an understanding of what ballot initiatives can help achieve —and how that process must evolve to truly benefit Ohioans. RSVP here.
Join the effort to end discrimination for all in Ohio
The Ohio Constitution still contains no Equal Rights Amendment, and it still includes language banning same-sex marriage. That means Ohioans aren't constitutionally protected from discrimination by our state and local governments based on race, sex, pregnancy status, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected characteristics — instead, we're left relying on an ever-shifting legislature to safeguard our rights. And because marriage equality here is currently guaranteed only by federal protections, it could be lost at the state level if it's ever overturned federally.
Ohio Equal Rights is gathering signatures for two proposed amendments — the Ohio Equal Rights Amendment and the Ohio Right to Marry Amendment — and needs help collecting signatures through June and beyond.
Summer School: Build knowledge for the fight ahead
Attend the Election Integrity Summit on Monday, June 22 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, 1375 East Ninth Street, Floor 2, Cleveland, OH 44114
This nonpartisan gathering brings together legal leaders, election officials, academics, media voices, and civic organizations for a conversation about protecting public trust in our democratic institutions. The keynote comes from retired federal appeals judge Michael Luttig, alongside panels on the state of play for 2026 elections and the media's role in covering them. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from leading voices on election integrity and democratic governance while engaging in meaningful conversations about public trust, civic responsibility, and the future of democratic participation. Register here.
Read the "Democratic Playbook" and draw inspiration from people who've already fought this fight. D-HUB is a global community of "democracy defenders" — organizers, strategists, and movement leaders who connect people fighting authoritarianism in their own countries with others who've already faced (and in many cases beaten) similar threats. On last week's Indivisible Group Leader call, we heard from a member of D-HUB's leadership about their new Anti-Authoritarian Toolkit: a free, practical, Creative Commons–licensed library of ten volumes covering everything from naming authoritarian tactics to digital communications, GOTV, narrative strategy, and a curated "Democratic Playbook" of the most effective plays democracy movements have used worldwide — including contributions from Avaaz founder Ricken Patel and Slovenian organizer Nika Kovač, who has led winning referendum campaigns against her own country's authoritarian drift.
Explore the full toolkit and check out the working draft of the Democratic Playbook volume shared on the call.
Photo of the week
Here's a graphic we recently shared on Instagram exposing the stunning hypocrisy of Jon Husted
