With five days before the 2020 election, local leaders in Iowa gathered Thursday to voice their concern that one group is being left out: convicted felons.
A mostly empty room at the Davenport Martin Luther King Jr. Interpretive Center may be the right metaphor for Thursday's press conference.
"We have too many Iowans right now who aren’t sure if they can cast a ballot," said State Representative Ras Smith.
Smith represents Iowa's 62nd district, which includes Waterloo. With only days before election day, Smith is pushing for convicted felons in Iowa to know they have a right to vote, too.
"The numbers show anywhere from 35,000 to 45,000 of individuals who would have had their votes restored earlier this spring to understand, to get caught back up in the election process," Smith said.
That's thanks to an executive order, EO 7, signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in August. That executive order restored voting rights for felons in Iowa.
But, Smith said it's hard to determine just how many of those Iowans have registered to vote in the 2020 election.
"They're not in our political databases because they haven't casted a ballot in a long time so there's nowhere to track that," Smith said.
That's why State Representative Phyllis Thede joined Thursday's press conference, too. Thede represents Iowa's 93rd district.
"We’ve just been behind the times," Thede said. "It’s been an archaic system for a long time. So now it’s time to just get it done."
The room at the Martin Luther King Jr. Interpretive Center in Davenport sat empty, but the press conference was streamed on Thede's Facebook page.
"Now are we going to reach every person to hear this message? Probably not. But, what we can do is start this process," Thede said.
Starting that process to help fill a void in those who cast their ballot.
"If you are a felon, and you've served your time and you've met all the requirements like your parole and you're done with all of that, we want to make sure you know that you have the right to vote," Thede said.