CLEVELAND — Voting is known as a civic duty, but through their Steppin' and Rollin' to the Polls event, leaders in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Greater Cleveland Congregations added celebration to that duty for first-time voters Tuesday morning.
"What you see today is a culmination of youth telling us adults that this should be a joyful moment," said Khalilah Worley-Billy, a senior organizer with GCC, an organization committed to building community power for change.
Throughout the event, which began at Trinity Cathedral Episcopal Church, more than 150 students within CMSD received a real-life lesson on political civic engagement.
"After so many years of watching, I finally get to vote," said Taiveion Robinson, a student at the Cleveland School of the Arts.
Robinson is one of the newly eligible 18-year-old voters who walked the half mile on Euclid Avenue from the cathedral to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to cast a ballot for the first time.
"This point in time right now can change my life for the next four years and after," Robinson added.
CMSD leaders teamed up with Greater Cleveland Congregations to organize Tuesday's parade to the polls for students.
"Part of our civic responsibility and civic duty is to be able to engage the next generation of leaders," said Anthony Brown, CMSD's family and community engagement program manager. "If we don't show them the way, who else will?"
Raymond Nutoves Jr., a student at the Rhodes School of Environmental Studies, was the first Cleveland student to vote as part of Steppin' and Rollin' to the Polls.
"I can actually decide what goes on in my community," Nutoves told 3News seconds after casting his ballot. "It feels amazing."
Unfortunately, Robinson didn't end up casting a ballot with his peers.
"(I) went to go in my pocket as they gave us the reminder to have our IDs, and I discovered that I didn't have my ID with me," he said.
Robinson misplaced his identification somewhere between leaving his school and arriving at the Board of Elections.
"I feel a little disappointed," Robinson lamented. "I have faith that I'm going to find that ID and my voice will be heard."
Ohio recently implemented new photo ID laws requiring approved forms of identification for voting with a regular ballot during early in-person voting at the board of elections. However, Robinson was unaware that he could have cast a provisional ballot and gone through the necessary follow-up steps to get that ballot counted.
"It was a lesson learned," he admitted.
You can find more on provisional ballots and how to make sure yours get counted here.