(Droning cello) (City traffic noise) (Jazzy saxophone music) [BOBBY PERKINS] I was born March 24th, 1955.

I used to box growing up.

I won the Golden Gloves twice up in New York.

♪ ♪ I boxed people like Howard Davis, Adam Box.

Uh...I done sparred with Sugar Ray Leonard, his brother Roger Leonard, a guy named, uh, Johnny Bunch.

♪ ♪ So, what did I feel when I was boxing?

I felt a great euphoria, 'cause I was real good at it.

I started getting in trouble when I was 10 years old, stealing cars.

And then, by the time I was 12, I had graduated to the big sport, uh, armed robbery.

Because by then, I was using drugs.

Heroin was my drug of choice.

By the time I was 18, I was in federal prison.

And then, by the time I was 23, I was back in prison, for bank robberies, a couple other crimes that I don't want to talk about because I don't want to remember the past that much.

I ended up doing 37 years of my life in the prison system.

(Dissonant piano chords) (Crows squawking) [BOBBY] When I was locked up, I used to envision every move I was gonna make, if I ever regained my freedom.

I used to sit in my cell and write plans like a diary.

"When I get out, what am I gonna do?

How am I gonna survive, when all I know is the life of crime?"

(Click of cigarette lighter) [BOBBY] In 2016, I moved into this place, and I've been living here ever since.

(Rattle of dishes and utensils) It's small, but it's bigger than a prison cell.

(Ambient synth music) When you're used to being alone, man, it's not hard.

And I find it a beautiful thing to be able to live by myself.

Like I said, I'm a realist, I never once ever thought that I would come home and make a difference.

Now, I'm doing voter registration, taking people to the polls to vote, something I never, ever thought I'd be doing.

Can you imagine a man that's been in prison 37 years for being very destructive.

And then one day you find yourself free, and you get the opportunity without being prejudiced, to turn things around?

And to make yourself worthwhile?

I never thought about this, but freedom has a price tag on it.

(Funky music with beat and jazzy saxophone) ♪ ♪ [NICOLE HANSON-MUNDELL] The law says that if you have a felony, even if you are on probation and parole, you have the right to vote.

You know, when you get your right to vote back, it's like getting back something that always belonged to you.

[MONICA COOPER] Everything that impacts your daily life, my daily life, starts at the polls.

[BOBBY] Our vote is our voice, and when you don't vote, you silence yourself.

[NICOLE] Wherever you are in this state of Maryland, if you have a felony, you can vote.

And don't let anybody, I mean, anybody tell you otherwise.

(Funky music with beat intensifies) ♪ ♪ (Slow and somber chords) ♪ ♪ (Slow and somber chords with guitar riff) ♪ ♪ [DANA VICKERS SHELLEY] In Maryland, individuals who are formerly incarcerated have been eligible to vote for several years.

The challenge is that, many individuals and their families and communities don't know that they are allowed to vote.

And so, organizations like Life After Release, Maryland Justice Project, and Out for Justice, have led the effort by going door to door to make sure that everyone is able to take advantage of this very, very important way to participate in democracy.

[BOBBY] Why don't you come into my office, and we can sit down and share ideas?

[WOMAN] Not a problem.

[BOBBY] We can partner up.

[WOMAN] Would you want me to pack up right now?

[BOBBY] Nah, nah.

[WOMAN] So, you give me a time and a day.

[BOBBY] Okay, I'm there Monday through Friday.

From 10:00 in the morning to sometimes 3 or 4:00 in the evening.

[WOMAN] Really?

[BOBBY] My name is Bobby Perkins.

I'm the outreach coordinator.

Everybody hate the way the government is run, but you know how hard it is to get people to go over there and vote, man, to change this (deleted).

Our vote is our voice.

And when you don't vote, you silence yourself.

(Pensive synthesizer music) [BOBBY] It takes organizations like these to get out in the streets, pound the pavement, and put people on point, man.

[Sounds of people on street having background conversations] [BOBBY] Hey.

[MAN 1] Hey.

[BOBBY] How you be?

[MAN 1] What's going on, Bobby?

[BOBBY] I'm good, man.

[MAN 2] What's your name?

[BOBBY] Bobby.

We probably were locked up together somewhere.

[MAN 2] I know you.

[BOBBY What it is, we're coming out here trying to find people that's voting that need a ride to get to the polls, you know.

[MAN 1] Alright, okay.

[BOBBY] 'Cause we gonna, we're gonna provide it, you know.

We gonna make sure you get there and back And plus, have a good lunch.

[MAN 2] Okay, that's good.

[BOBBY] Y'all voting?

[MAN 3] Huh?

[BOBBY] Y'all voting?

Did you see the debate last night?

'Cause we giving rides to those who need it... [MAN 2] Right on.

[BOBBY] ...to get you to the polls.

[BOBBY] Anybody need a ride to the poll to vote?

[MAN 6] Y'all right over here?

[BOBBY] Right over there.

[MAN 6] Yeah, I can walk over there.

[BOBBY] Yeah, sure.

This is a typical day in the hood.

You think it's important to vote this year?

[OLDER WOMAN] You ask me a dumb question like that?

[BOBBY] Hey Joe Joe.

[JOE JOE] What's up, Bobby?

[BOBBY] Just coming to check on you, man.

I ain't seen ya.

[JOE JOE] I'm voting for the first time in my life.

[BOBBY] Ah, that's a beautiful thing.

[JOE JOE] Thanks to Bob for helping hook me up.

[BOBBY] That's right.

[MAN 6] You will be seeing me.

[BOBBY] My man.

[MAN 6] Good?

[BOBBY] Okay, my man.

I sit back and think about the many people that died to give us this right to vote.

I thought it is mandatory that I do everything I can possibly do to aid in a system, to make a difference.

(Jazzy funky music fades out) [NICOLE] We need to be focusing on the budget.

They love that we have not made a concerted effort to target the money.

[WOMAN ON PHONE] And that's a big thing, I'm telling you, that's a big thing right there.

[NICOLE] And if the issues that you want the most, you can't find them nowhere in the state's budget, or the state is only allocating 300K to that issue that you know will impact your whole damn family.

There lies the problem, there is where our advocacy needs to go.

So, my name is Nicole Hanson-Mundell.

I am the Executive Director of Out for Justice.

Our goal is to serve formerly and currently incarcerated people in the ways that we know we want to be served.

[BOBBY] We probably can help him in the library.

[NICOLE] Whether, it's paying their you know... their bail, or getting them connected to, um, employment, or getting them connected to uh...the ability to become their own entrepreneur.

It's just like it was with you.

they was trying to offer one thing you one thing, but you got another thing.

[LATASHA FASON] Out for Justice helped me.

They advocated for me while I was incarcerated, they spoke with lawyers and state's attorneys on my behalf and assisted with my release.

Since, I've been released, I've been coming here and I've become a member of Out for Justice.

[BOBBY] Nicole, she's a very unique woman and very educated with the legislative process.

But she groomed me, so to speak, to be an outreach coordinator.

[NICOLE] There was this turning point in my life, where I went down the wrong path and I made, um, some decisions that landed me behind the walls.

And it was there that I saw women, um, who were losing their lives behind very unjust policies, losing their lives, uh, due to the criminalization of poverty.

And for those reasons, I committed myself that I would get back involved.

(Somber progressing chord music) ♪ ♪ [NEWS REPORTER] According to supporters, the bill impacts 40,000 felons.

The highest concentration is in Baltimore City.

Perry Hopkins is one of them.

[PERRY HOPKINS] "What does it mean to me?"

It means that I fully have the respect that I deserve as a citizen.

[NICOLE] When you think about your right to vote, you think about all the folks who suffered.

Think about something that you know belongs to you.

your hair, right?

[Laughs] You're like, when you get your right to vote back, it is just getting back something that always belonged to you, you know?

(Somber progressing chord music slowly fades out) [MONICA COOPER] I am rounding up as many people as I can think of family members, friends, formerly incarcerated, whomever, and try to get folks to come out and vote.

(Pop music on loudspeaker) [MONICA] When I vote, I vote for all of the women who I left inside.

My cell buddy, the lady that I used to go to chow with.

When I vote, I vote for them.

So, when we return home, will we be able to have jobs?

When we return home, will we be discriminated against when we try to find housing?

[FEMALE VOTER SHANTE] So, the lines are very long inside?

[MONICA] No, I don't know.

I think we're doing pretty good.

[MONICA] Being an African American woman, the effort to keep us away from the polls and to keep us from voting has been going on for over 400 years.

[MONICA] This is Shante's first time voting.

[FEMALE VOTER SHANTE] Yes, rocking my vote.

I want to make a difference if I can, however.

[MONICA] That young lady um, she's been away since-- she was 15-years-old, incarcerated since she was 15, and today...she's 40.

And today was her, um, first time voting.

She's only been home for seven days.

You would think after being away so long, the last thing that somebody would be thinking about is voting.

But in fact, that's um, that's what's on everybody's mind, especially when you...returning to the community.

Because it's a lot of us that do want to vote and do want to participate in the system.

[MONICA] Yeah.

That's what I'm trying to do, trying to get some people in this damn van, so they can go vote.

(Somber piano music) ♪ ♪ [MONICA] But the thing is that, the people who we are encountering right now in the community, that's out here on the corners, they are the ones who are not voting.

And they have been convinced that their vote does not matter.

But you gotta find out how do you reach 'em?

How do you reach 'em?

And if that means go pick them up and take them to the polls, then that's what I will do.

[MONICA] Hey guys, y'all voted already?

Anybody need a ride to the polls?

We just picking up random people trying to take and go vote.

[MONICA] So, when you teach people and allow them to be a part of the process, so they'll understand that this is why we pick up the piece of paper.

You bring them into the process.

(Somber piano music fades out) (Street noise, crows squawking and birds chirping) [BOBBY](Laughing) Do you know, the first time in my life I ever voted was 2016.

Yeah.

Feels strange, man, because I never thought I'd ever vote.

Never thought I would ever vote, man.

Feels strange.

I went inside, all these people, I ain't never been nowhere like that in my life.

I went to the, ah, to the booth to make my selections.

After I voted, I was high, man.

I felt high.

'Cause that's the first time I ever did that.

First time.

I felt like man, you know when I voted, and I made my choice, I felt like I made a difference.

Even though my selection didn't win -- (chuckles) I felt like-- I made a difference.

That's why I go out here and pound these sidewalks to register people.

'Cause I believe in it, I believe in the democracy.

You know, when I was locked up, when I first went to prison, I was real angry.

Angry at the guy that told on me, angry about, you know, getting locked up for the bank robberies.

I was angry with the world.

But then as time went on, I started realizing that when you got your mind focused on something positive, can't nothing deter you from that, if you're sincere.

(Upbeat funk music with beat) I appreciate y'all for coming out for this early vote.

Making everybody proud of the decisions you make.

Because your voice must be heard.

[Singing] Rock the vote, Rock the vote!

♪ Gonna rock that vote, baby ♪ Gonna rock that vote, baby ♪ Gonna rock that vote, baby ♪ Rock the vote, Rock the vote ♪ ♪ ♪ [MAN 1] First time voter!

Hey, your vote counts the most!

(Upbeat funk music ends) [DANA VICKERS SHELLEY] People know it's important to vote.

But systems and processes have been designed to keep people from voting.

The message that society sends when they say you should not participate in democracy as a whole; it doesn't matter if you vote, what they're saying to those individuals is you don't matter, your life doesn't matter.

And those leaders are not saying what they should say, Black Lives Matter.

(City street noise, car brakes squeaking) [LATASHA] [Reading] "The letter states this office received notice from the Maryland court system that you have been convicted of a crime that requires cancellation of your voter registration.

You are temporarily ineligible to register and vote, if you have been convicted of a felony and have not completed the court-ordered sentence of imprisonment.

[NICOLE] Let me just be real clear about how voter suppression works, right?

Over a hundred letters like this has gone out.

A hundred or more people have been told that they don't have the right to vote, even though, we know that is not the truth.

That is voter suppression.

Okay?

[BOBBY] Alright.

[NICOLE] Alright, we good?

[BOBBY] I guess so.

[NICOLE] Alright, let's roll.

You feel nervous?

[LATASHA] I do.

[NICOLE] Well, alright.

I'm going be standing right beside you, 'cause they're gonna ask you, "What was your offense?"

And you're gonna say, "It does not matter what my offense is, what matters is that I am an eligible voter.

And I should not have received that letter."

[NICOLE] We are very unique group of people that operate in this non-profit industrial complex, and we're not expected to know the law, we're not expected to be lobbyists.

We're not expected to be college graduates.

[LATASHA] We must be ignorant.

[NICOLE] We must be ignorant, right?

But the idea is that we are you and you are us, one in three of every freakin' American in this country has engaged with the criminal system.

This a [deleted] up system, unlike in any other place in the world, Fason.

(Reflective piano music with beat) (Police sirens) [NICOLE] Today, we stand here, because one of our members received a letter from this office, the Board of Elections that said, "Her voter registration form is invalid."

[LATASHA] To have my vote torn away from me, is like having my larynx crushed.

[MONICA] This is a person who wants to participate in this democracy.

You cannot have a democracy when you have millions and millions of people who are kept from the ballot.

That's not democracy.

[BOBBY] And people are to the point where they don't trust the Board of Elections to give them a fair shake on this election.

[DANA] Our demand is simple.

Just do your job.

[NICOLE] We are here to tell all formerly incarcerated people across the state of Maryland, "Don't let anybody tell you that you cannot vote!"

(Chants from crowd) [MONICA] There's talk about how Black women continue to bear the brunt of these elections.

Because when people look at the numbers, it is Black women who turnout, turnout, turnout, turnout, turnout.

At this point of the Black woman's sojourn in this country, she could very well say, "[deleted] all of you guys, I need to concentrate on me, my family and my existence."

But the Black woman continues to stand up and beg the people in this country to be moral.

To say to America, "We can do better, we can be better."

(Background conversation) (Car door opens) (Car door closes) (Laughs) Alright, let's shoot back up there real quick.

Get you in the line.

Yep, as long as you're in the line by 8:00, you get to vote.

You're gonna vote today!

[MALE VOTER] It's sad to say it, man.

There's a lot of people I know I've had go on blind ears and said, "Man, I ain't doing no damn voting.

I ain't doing it, I ain't doing it.

To hell with both people, both are no good for us, this, that, and the third...

But at the same time, you got to make a choice, the choice has to be made.

So, my decision is to go out here and vote.

I feel like this, it's the only thing to do right now is make sure that your voice is heard, make sure that you leave an impact wherever you stand and wherever you speak at.

[MONICA] That's freedom, you know?

This is the most freest act that I can participate in is voting.

In a country that's always tried to suppress and oppress Black people.

It feels like freedom.

(Pounds chest) [MALE VOTER] I've voted!

37 years on this earth, man, I never voted a day in my life, and I finally did it!

It's a blessing.

[MONICA] Wow, first time voter here, how you feel man?

[MALE VOTER] First time voter.

I feel great, wonderful, man.

[MONICA] That's fantastic.

[MALE VOTER] To make it here, be able to do this, to vote.

Man, I remember them days, when I wasn't sure, if I wouldn't even make it.

But I'm here to vote.

Life's been changed, man.

It is a changing event, man, why not?

I feel good.

[MONICA] Oh...man, I'm so happy for you.

[MALE VOTER] I got a sticker.

[MONICA] You got a sticker, Lemme see your sticker.

Oh, my goodness, "I voted."

That's fantastic.

[MALE VOTER] I voted, Joshua Moore voted.

I feel good, man.

[MONICA] That's awesome.

I'm so proud of you.

(laughs) [MALE VOTER] I ain't gonna lie, I never had one of these and this is an accomplishment for me, man.

I suggest y'all go out here and vote for the first time.

If you've never voted before, no excuses, man!

You come out here, take a seat at the table, less than five minutes, man, get you registered.

take your ID, get you on there to a ballot.

Cast your vote, it matters, man.

No matter if you're ID, no problem, come show up.

You have a question?

Show up, ask the question.

Best thing you can do is show up.

[MONICA] First time voting.

[MALE VOTER] First time voting, man, I feel so great.

It is the beginning to a lot more.

I'm coming for y'all, I want to vote.

Who knows?

Maybe one day, you'll be voting for me.

[MONICA] (Laughing) [MALE VOTER] You never know.

(Laughter) (Slow mysterious synthesizer music) ♪ ♪ [NICOLE] What's up, bro?

[MAN ON PHONE] Everything all right?

What's the matter?

[NICOLE] I just gotta leave the office to go find one of my members.

[MAN ON PHONE] Why?

[NICOLE] 'Cause I'm hearing that -- I think they relapsed.

No, I got to get them off the street.

[MAN ON PHONE] Alright.

(Dissonant chords on piano and jazzy saxophone) [MONICA] When people come home it has to be a recovery period.

It's almost like when a person comes out of surgery, they have to be in a recovery period.

You can't just operate on somebody, their body go through all of these things, they say, "Okay, see you later."

[NICOLE] Hello.

[MAN ON PHONE] Uh-huh, how you doing?

[NICOLE] Have you seen Bobby?

[MAN ON PHONE] (Beep) No, my brother called me this morning, said he had talked to him earlier.

[NICOLE] We haven't seen him all day.

I just pulled up, about an hour ago to his house, his car is not here.

The neighbors say they haven't seen him all day.

Today is election day, one of the most important days in the organization.

Bobby's been doing "Get Out the Vote" work all week.

(Beep) So, he knows that there's an expectation for him to be available today.

And if he wasn't gonna be available, he would have called.

[GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS] (NEWSCAST) You all know the stakes are high, and we do too.

As you can see, people are still voting in much of the country.

The lines have been long all through the day.

[NICOLE] Okay.

So what we're gonna do is, we're gonna call the hospitals and I'm gonna start calling the jails.

[GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS] (NEWSCAST) Not knowing the outcome tonight does not mean the process is broken.

It does not mean the election is unfair.

What's most important is every citizen casts a valid vote, gets that vote counted, however long it takes.

We're committed to being with you every step of the way.

We'll tell you what we know and what we don't know.

(Voices of TV reports fade out) (Sound of Bobby placing lighter on table) [BOBBY] Come here.

(Pats his hand on the chair) (Pats his hand on the chair) Come here.

It was the saying that stayed in my mind all the time, and that it is, "If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got."

Okay, when I leave you here by yourself, don't be crying.

'Cause one day I do want to get out of Baltimore.

You know, I got more years behind me than in front of me.

I think, I'll be off parole...shortly.

I won't have to answer to anyone or anything.

If I want to relocate to another state, I don't think, it'd be a big issue.

My thinking, my thinking has changed drastically, man.

My thinking has become, uh...the catalyst, making me who I am today.

♪ ♪ [FILMAKER] How do you feel?

[LATASHA FASON] I feel good.

I feel like, I've performed my civil duty.

(Music) ♪ ♪ [NICOLE] They arrested them during the summer.

They picked this woman up at a pool party, so now she's in a [deleted] bikini, coming out the jail at 4:00 in the morning.

[BOBBY] If you need housing, if you need food stamps, whatever you may need, just come up to that building.

(Music) ♪ ♪