Some of the Big Bang foundation are former students of Metro High School. There we participated in a class which was to teach individuals the process of voting; we kept active by persistently registering voters and trying to change a law.  This journey involved, training, going door to door canvassing, meeting people and discussing why voting is so important.  Despite our inability to vote ourselves due to us being under 18, in 2004 we began registering individuals in the community as active voters. During this time, we met multiple individuals who had their voting rights terminated for life. This act was from the laws intact with Iowa at the time being 1 out of 4 states that had such a ban on voting if you had committed a felony. After meetings, emails, calls, lobbying at the capital and countless classroom hours, the law was changed! Then Governor  Tom Vilsac signed an executive order granting voting rights to former felons that had finished their time! (Even though it still had is restrictions, this law has since been changed back and is now more restrictive, Gov Brandstad)
In this time period, through our classes and efforts, we had registered hundreds if not thousands of voters and helped with the voter turn out with in particular precincts for Iowa in the 2004 election!
This time around we plan on choosing a precinct again to affect voter turn out and also register as many voters as we can to make sure people understand they can be apart of the process and have a major impact on the outcome! Voting is a basic right we all have that allows our voices to be heard and apart of the process! Let’s use the vote to change the view of what we do not like and enhance what we do. We are the change we seek in 2016 whether it be state, local, or national… vote!

Jorel Robinson