Keke Palmer may be a Scream Queen, but she’s a political powerhouse, too.

The triple-threat just added spokesperson to her résumé, as she’s now the face of Hip Hop Caucus’s Respect My Vote! campaign. In an exclusive interview with People, Palmer opened up about her passion for politics and how affected she was by her first experience at the polls, which took place in 2012 when she cast her vote for Barack Obama’s second term.

“I remember as a kid, I asked my dad if he could be the president,” she shares. “What I really meant was, ‘Can a black person be president?’ That happened – and not only was he a black man, but he was a great man and a great president to us and made a lot of amazing things happen.”

She’s excited about historic changes afoot in the 2016 race, too. “It’s cool to see that we could have a woman as president,” she continues. “People are open to something new. The fact that Hillary is a big candidate shows that, so I just love that we’re seeing that things are different.”

Palmer joins other artists like Ciara and Keyshia Cole at Hip Hop Caucus, and though she hasn’t officially endorsed a presidential candidate, she’s open about where she stands on the political spectrum. “I’m definitely more of a liberal, so I support anyone doing things or providing services for the community,” she says. “I’m a person that believes there’s no way we can keep up this ‘every man for himself’ thing."