Desmond Meade is Executive Director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023. He led the historic victory of Florida 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. The grassroots citizen initiative won by nearly 65 percent of the vote - and as Desmond says, “won with love.” Desmond Meade is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, a Ford Foundation Global Fellow, one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World.
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.”
Photo Credit: Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
Photo Credit: MacArthur Foundation
