Desmond Meade led the 2018 Florida campaign for Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to more than 1.4 million Floridians with previous felony convictions, the largest expansion of voting rights in a half-century. Voters approved it with nearly 65 percent of the vote - and as Desmond says, “won with love.” In this conversation he talks about forgiveness, talking with people we disagree with, and why voting says I AM. Desmond Meade is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, a Ford Foundation Global Fellow, one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World.
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For years, Desmond Meade could not vote. Then he led the campaign that changed the rule for 1,400,000 people.
In 2018, Florida voters approved Amendment 4 with nearly 65 percent of the vote, ending a lifetime voting ban for most people with felony convictions. In 2019, the Legislature pared it back by requiring people to pay fines, fees and restitution first. Desmond's work continued.
Desmond says the campaign won with love. He describes the amendment as an effort of forgiveness, restoration, and love, and he describes voting as an act of humanity before politics. "Voting says I AM."
Desmond Meade has constitutionalized grace. When his team knocked on a door, they opened with one question: has anyone you love ever made a mistake?
We talk about:
• Why voting is a sacred act, and what our ancestors sacrificed for it.
• Why we are conditioned not to talk with people we have labeled our enemies, or even our own people, and what happens when you do it anyway.
• What it means to fight for the whole system rather than one party's votes.
• A conservative room that gave Desmond a standing ovation.
• The Free the Vote bus tour, where stop after stop, people were moved to tears at the chance to vote again.
• Desmond being named to the Time 100 and what he says it all comes down to: love.
• Fill out your ballot with someone this week. Choose a friend, neighbor or relative, ideally someone who thinks differently about politics. Open a nonpartisan voter guide side by side. Nobody has to share their choices. Ask each other what feels confusing.
• Ask one question. Desmond's team opened at the door with a question about someone you love who made a mistake. Try it this week with someone you disagree with.
• Have the conversation. Desmond says we are conditioned not to talk with people we have labeled enemies. Start with one person.
• Go deeper with Desmond's work. The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition website and Facebook page, his book Let My People Vote, and his podcast Our Voice.
• Florida Rights Restoration Coalition: floridarrc.com
• Desmond's website: desmondmeade.com
• Book: Let My People Vote: My Battle to Restore the Civil Rights of Returning Citizens: https://www.desmondmeade.com/let-my-people-vote
• NPR review of the book, October 2020: https://www.nhpr.org/national/2020-10-07/let-my-people-vote-tells-of-one-mans-journey-to-getting-1-4-million-back-a-voice
• The Nation, Desmond Meade on why love is the most powerful word, November 2022: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/desmond-meade-interview/tnamp/
• Handles: @desmondmeade on Instagram and linkedin.com/in/desmond-meade-4434504
Desmond Meade has constitutionalized grace. When Desmond and his team would knock on the door of a voter, they would open with this question: “Has anyone you love ever made a mistake?”
“Nothing speaks more to citizenship than voting...for our kids...it brings us together because we're talking about participating in a shared dream of democracy...at its core are 3 famous words: We. The. People."
“Going into communities and engaging people—not in a transactional manner but a relational manner — we can tap into deep desires among people to be part of democracy.”
Passing Florida’s Constitutional Amendment "was about forgiveness, restoration, and love."
Voting is an act of humanity, not politics. "Voting says I AM."
"We got people to vote...not based on fear but based on love...along the lines of humanity."
“We can move the masses, in spite of the efforts to suppress their votes...There are operatives against us - but there are more of us!”
"If I’m only fighting for you because I need you to vote for my party, I’m not fighting for you. And I’m certainly not fighting for us......regardless of whether you agree, I need you to participate in the process."
"It takes someone who has lost the right to vote...we don't scare easy so we're fighting back…engage in conversations.”
Desmond Meade led the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) for more than a decade as its executive director and president, stepping down in March 2026. Under his leadership, FRRC was nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.
He chaired the 2018 Amendment 4 campaign, which Florida voters approved with nearly 65 percent of the vote to restore voting rights to people with felony convictions. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019, and he was a 2021 MacArthur Fellow.
A graduate of Florida International University College of Law, Desmond is the author of Let My People Vote. He overcame homelessness, addiction and incarceration, and he continues to speak about love, dignity and democracy.
