I would like to update anyone who comes to this thread with the same problem.
The issue was in fact that the Arduino was not reading any "1's" with the voltage so low. I used a logic level converter from Sparkfun to bump up the voltages and it worked!
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The issue was in fact that the Arduino was not reading any "1's" with the voltage so low. I used a logic level converter from Sparkfun to bump up the voltages and it worked!
Part I used: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8745
If you order that part, be sure you have or ordered some headers as well.
The transistors (reply #29) would have been less expensive.