He lost his right to vote, now Desmond Meade is trying to win back other prisoners

Of: Wolfgang Hansson

Published: October 25, 2020 at 19.17

MIAMI FLORIDA. 20 years ago, Desmond Meade was at the bottom of society. Commutation between homelessness and prison.

Since then, life has changed. Now your job can decide the presidential election.

– Considering how few votes tend to differ in Florida, I think ex-prisoners can be ironic, he says.

Until now, Florida has upheld slavery-era laws that automatically mean that those sentenced to prison lose their right to vote for the rest of their lives. Most states automatically return the right to vote to those who have served their sentences. Some even let prisoners vote.

Two years ago, Desmond Meade and his organization Florida Rights Restoration Coalition were behind a referendum in which two-thirds of the state’s residents voted in favor of former prisoners to regain their right to vote. Only those convicted of murder and rape were excluded.

Photo: AP

Former prisoner Desmond Meade.

We are talking here about the largest restoration of the right to vote that has taken place in the history of the United States with 1.4 million ex-cons who would now be allowed to go to the polls.

But the state’s Republican leadership, led by Governor Ron DeSantis, did not accept the exit but put new obstacles in the way.

The governor argued that ex-convicts must first pay their fines and court fees before they can vote. Which in practice would disqualify the majority of former prisoners.

Especially since, in many cases, not even the courts and local authorities can say what a former prisoner is guilty of.

The decision was appealed and in the first instance Desmond Meade’s group was right. But the appeals court followed the governor’s line. No HD trial has time to take place before the election.

“It is an insult”

As a result, nearly 800,000 ex-convicts will not be able to vote in the November 3 presidential election.

– It is an insult to democracy that people are forced to choose between being able to put food on the table and being able to exercise their constitutional right to vote, Desmond Meade tells Aftonbladet.

There is some resignation in the voice, but Meade still looks positively to the future.

– Around 700,000 previously convicted persons for whom we have raised money or who have no debts have the opportunity to vote in this year’s presidential elections. It will have a huge impact on the bottom line.

Florida is a state called the leader of the wave in which some elections vote with the Republicans but in others with the Democrats. President Obama won here twice.

The margin of victory is usually very small. In the 2000 elections, George W Bush won with only 537 votes.

– So even if only hundreds of thousands of former prisoners vote, you can decide the choice.

When I ask the direct question of why the Republican governor does not want to restore the right to vote in the way he decided the 2018 referendum, Meade responds diplomatically.

– I can’t comment on what’s going through DeSanti’s head, but his actions show that he doesn’t believe in giving people a second chance.

Meade knows what he’s talking about. For many years he lived as an addict on the street. Only when he was admitted to a treatment home did he overcome his addiction to cocaine and instead earned a law degree from Florida International University. He is now married with five children.

Even if Meade doesn’t say so openly, there’s no question why the Republican governor is so reluctant. You just don’t want to lose the election. The broader the elections, the greater the chances that Republicans will win.

“Among those who have lost their vote, there is a strong overrepresentation of African Americans,” Meade explains. Poor African Americans than to a much greater extent than, for example, whites are sentenced to prison terms in court.

No one can say how these former convictions will vote in the presidential or other elections. But if you look at how the majority of black Americans tend to vote, they definitely lean more toward Democrats than Republicans.

Trump won the state four years ago

Given how uniform Florida tends to be, the votes of ex-cons can be absolutely decisive in giving President Trump a chance to regain the status that he narrowly took home to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

An important factor will be how many of those who have regained their voting rights actually go to the polls. In the United States, you must first register to vote, which creates another threshold for many.

For Desmond Meade, it will be the first time he has been able to vote in a presidential election.

– I really want it to arrive and I take it very seriously. It will be a wonderful feeling. It is not just about participating in the decision of who will be the president of the United States. The right to vote confirms to me that I am a person whose vote counts.

By the next presidential election, Meade hopes that all former prisoners will regain their voting rights.

– We, as a nation, should celebrate that more people can vote. The more inclusive the right to vote, the more alive our democracy will be.

Published: October 25, 2020 at 19.17