Ohio Citizen Action Education fund believes in an Ohio where all voters understand what is on the ballot, and cast their vote in every election.
Government works best when we all participate. That means showing up even when it feels hard, even when you’re not excited, even when you’ve sat out before. Ohio Citizen Action has been knocking on doors and having honest conversations with Ohioans about what it means to participate. We believe in your power to shape this state.
Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund engages with inactive voters across the state. Our goal is to find out why they are not voting, and what would motivate them to cast a ballot in the next election.
We have heard many Ohioans express that they feel like voting is so complicated that it’s not worth their time to make an informed opinion – Other people will do it for them.
But at the same time, we hear why they are more likely to vote in the next election:
- If they are better informed about the candidates and issues
- If they see real change from election outcomes
- If their friends and family are also planning to vote and they can talk about it together
Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund is committed to talking to registered non-voters, and helping them realize their own potential for change in their community.
Voter Resources: Active voters should always check to ensure their registration is active before voter registration deadlines. Check out Ohio voter resources below:
Register to vote
New to Ohio or need to update your info? Register online in minutes.
Request an absentee ballot
Any registered Ohio voter can vote by mail — no excuse required.
2026 Voter Motivation Project
In the summer of 2026, Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund launched a Voter Motivation Project, sending canvassers to knock on doors across Ohio and have real, personal conversations with voters who sat out the last election. We knocked on 32,254 doors and had real conversations at 1,938 of them. We weren’t just asking Ohioans if they planned to vote. We were listening to why so many weren’t sure.
What we heard surprised us. Almost no one told us their vote doesn’t matter. Instead, people told us they cared about voting, that they meant to do it, but they felt buried. Too much conflicting information. Not enough clear information. Too many candidates they didn’t feel they knew well enough to judge. So they planned to sit this one out, not because they didn’t care, but because they felt unprepared to decide.
So our canvassers tried something different. Instead of reciting facts about deadlines and polling places, they shared something personal: a moment when they didn’t want to do something, pushed through anyway, and found the payoff was worth it. Then they asked the person on the doorstep the same question: “Have you ever felt that way?” And together, they connected that feeling, the pride, the relief, the quiet satisfaction of following through, to the act of voting itself.
The results tell us this approach works.
At the start of these conversations, on a scale of 0 to 10, 1,274 people told us they were likely to vote (a 7 or higher), 368 were on the fence, and 296 said they probably wouldn’t. By the end of the same conversation, something had shifted. More people moved into certainty. Fewer stayed undecided. Fewer said no. Across every conversation we had, more than a third of Ohioans, 33.62%, changed their answer before our canvasser even left the porch.
That number is the whole campaign in miniature. It’s proof that apathy isn’t really the obstacle. Overwhelm is. And overwhelm can be met, door by door, with a real conversation and a little bit of trust.
After November, we’ll be able to check the public voter file and see how many of the people we talked with actually cast a ballot. We’ll learn even more about what worked.