Michael Fogle - First Time Voter - Building New Power

After a lifetime of skepticism about voting, Tayna Fogle's son Michael  registered to vote a few months ago voted for the first time on Tuesday.

"Growing up, Michael didn't see me voting," said Tayna.  "I lost my right to vote because of a felony conviction and voting just wasn't a part of his experience growing up.  But he also saw me fight to get my rights back in recent years.  I like to think that's had a big impact on him.  He's seen that getting involved in politics is really working for me and maybe it's not such a bad thing.  I'm so proud that he got out to vote.  So proud."

We've run into a lot of people voting for the first time this year - or for the first time in a long time.  People are excited, empowered, and getting involved - particularly in low-income, people of color, and youth communities - areas that are traditionally under-represented. 

This is what building New Power is all about - changing the process to be genuinely reflective of the people, and bringing everyone in to the process to have ownership of it.  Too few have held all of the power for two long and the more hands the fate of our Commonwealth collective lies in, the better.