From organizations and advocates who have been working toward voter justice for years, to the relatively newly-formed Des Moines BLM movement, there has been a devoted contingent of activists from all walks of life who have been working to restore voting rights to their friends and community members who've served felony sentences.
Antwonette Shade had been reaching out to community members on a weekly--often daily--basis.
"I'd go out to the barber shops, out to the beauty shops, out to the staples in the community with the voter registration booths and restoration applications on hand," said Shade. "I'd to encourage people in our community to get out and vote and to walk people through the process of getting our rights restored."
Shade, 36, founded the non-profit Union of Black America in 2019. As a part of the non-profit, she had been helping people who served felony sentences petition the Governor to get their voting rights back. She'd often put the applications in the mail herself.
"The very basic element of being a part of a society is being able to participate in the democratic process," she said. "So it’s important to me [to be a part of] one big major step into helping people reenter into society."
For Shade, the journey is personal. She had served a sentence for a non-violent felony conviction in 2004.
But today, shifting the focus to helping others, she says Governor Reynolds' signing of the Executive Order was a definite step in the right direction for all of those with whom she has been assisting.
"It’s a great thing to see that it’s finally paid off," said Shade. "But I hope that we can get to a place where this is a more permanent aspect because we know that the executive order is temporary."
Activists with the group Des Moines BLM say the signing of the order was bittersweet, noting that the order doesn't restore voting rights to people with certain felony convictions, such as homicide convictions.
"I think it is a great victory, but I do want to again stress it is a small victory," said BLM organizer Jaylen Cavil.
Cavil said that, despite being part of a couple conversations with the Governor, she did not reach out to the organization to invite them to the signing ceremony or even notify them it was happening.
"We had two in-person meetings with Kim Reynolds in her office," said Cavil. "We were the ones that she made the guarantee with that she would work with us and sign the executive order, and then she straight-up ghosted us."
The Iowa Department of Corrections says the order will restore the voting rights to about 5,000 people a year.