Jacksonville, Fla. • The bumpy path of Desmond Meade’s life meandered to its current interesting point. He is a graduate of Florida International University law school but cannot vote in his home state because his path went through prison: He committed nonviolent felonies concerning drugs and other matters during the 10 years when he was essentially homeless. And Florida is one of 11 states that effectively disqualify felons permanently.
Meade is one of 1.6 million disenfranchised Florida felons – more people than voted in 22 states in 2016. He is one of the 20 percent of African-American Floridians disenfranchised.