But he doesn’t want his past to define who he is now.
“I think I have a lot of positivity since I was released,” he said.
That s why he was in Kissimmee on Sunday to visit the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition s Free The Vote tour bus.
The group s bus provides voter registration information, COVID-19 testing, food, and had a bounce house for kids.
Members with the FRRC said they want to not only restore former felons’ rights but also the dignity of these returning citizens. The organization is celebrating April as “second chance month.”
Marquis McKenzie, FRRC s chapter development and training manager, said he lost his voting rights before he even had them. At 15 years old, he was taken out of the juvenile system and charged as an adult, he said.
Apr 25 - Democrats move to expand voting rights for felons boxden.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from boxden.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Jordan Williams - 04/25/21 11:00 AM EDT
Democratic states are moving to expand the voting rights of felons as the GOP seeks to tighten voting rules following a spate of losses in the 2020 election.
New York, Washington and Virginia have all recently taken legislative or executive action ensuring previously incarcerated men and women will have easier access to the ballot box.
Advocates have argued that most people who are affected by felony disenfranchisement come from communities of color.
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“The history of this is very much connected to Jim Crow and racism. And sadly, our nation has deep and long history about choosing who gets to vote as a mechanism to keep some people down,” said New York Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell (D), who sponsored legislation that the legislature passed expanding voting rights to previously incarcerated felons.
Joey Roulette/Reuters This story is available exclusively to Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.
Fritz Scheller is representing the ex-tax collector whose cooperation with DOJ could spell trouble for Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Scheller also defended the wife of the man who killed 49 people in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.
Well known in Florida legal circles, Scheller has been deemed the lawyer to call when someone s in a bind.
Tyrone Smith was already facing up to 15 years in a federal penitentiary for distributing narcotics when he first met his court-appointed attorney, Fritz Scheller.
As a Black man who had been previously incarcerated, Smith knew that his chances of getting a lesser prison sentence were slim. Still, he asked his new lawyer to try to get the penalty reduced to five years.
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Voting rights advocate Desmond Meade to receive 2021 Brown Democracy Medal
Desmond Meade, executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, will is the recipient of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s 2021 Brown Democracy Medal. He will visit University Park November 11 to receive the medal and present a public lecture on his work.
Image: Photo Provided
For Desmond Meade, the right to vote is not simply a bedrock of American democracy. It is a personal struggle. He knows what it’s like to lose that right and he has spent the past 15 years working to help formerly incarcerated people in Florida fight to regain it.