Nationally recognized voting rights advocate Desmond Meade, who has helped thousands of former felons like himself regain the right to vote, was again denied a pardon from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday.
At the same time DeSantis rejected Meade's pardon, the Republican governor also approved changes to the clemency process that could expedite rights restoration for people with past felony convictions.
Floridians passed an amendment in 2018 to restore voting rights to the state's 1.4 million ex-felons, but legislative and logistical barriers have kept many disenfranchised.
As president and executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Meade has been instrumental in the fight to restore voting rights to ex-felons in Florida. Two years ago he was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world after spearheading the 2018 ballot measure campaign.
Since experiencing drug addiction, homelessness and a felony conviction in 2001, Meade has turned his life around and earned a law degree. But due to his felony record, he cannot become a member of the Florida Bar unless he receives a pardon.
This is the second time DeSantis has denied Meade a pardon. His request was first rejected last September.
DeSantis said he denied Meade a pardon due to his dishonorable discharge from the military three decades ago. "As a former military officer, a dishonorable discharge is the highest punishment that a court martial may render. I consider it very serious," he said.
But Meade says he was a victim of political infighting because his pardon request was supported by Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. As Florida's only statewide elected Democrat, Fried is seen as a potential challenger to DeSantis in next year's gubernatorial election.
Fried, who's also a member of the state's Clemency Board, has been critical of DeSantis' handling of rights restoration to former felons since the amendment's passage three years ago. Following the governor's decision on Wednesday, she decried the denial of Meade's pardon as "hypocritical grandstanding."
"This Governor continues denying rights to a deserving Floridian in Desmond Meade on the basis of a long-ago military dishonorable discharge, but had no issue with appointing a Chief Administrative Judge who had been discharged for poor conduct from the Navy," she said in a statement.
"At the end of the day, the decision not to grant me a pardon is purely a political decision and I just happen to be a casualty of a war that's going on, a disagreement that's going on between the governor and our commissioner of agriculture," Meade told reporters in Tallahassee on Wednesday.
In the same meeting in which pardons were considered, DeSantis and the state Clemency Board also approved changes to expedite the clemency process for former felons. Those who have paid all their fines and fees can now apply for full rights restoration without needing a hearing before the board. Officials said this will streamline the process to reduce the backlog of cases.
The changes also waived the five- and seven-year waiting periods implemented in 2011 by then-Gov. Rick Scott.
While it's unclear how many Floridians will have their cases expedited, Meade said the new rules will help make the process less cumbersome and lengthy for thousands of returning citizens. He added that this victory outweighed his personal loss.
However, issues still remain with the state government's poor record-keeping of outstanding fines and fees for ex-felons. Because many don't know what they owe, if anything, they have been unable to have their voting rights restored.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Long Island to tour law enforcement facilities in Nassau County and rally support for local Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections
Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself
Is it possible that our President has simply not traveled enough?
Born and raised in Queens and attending Fordham University in the Bronx, Donald Trump has no record of traveling outside New York until he was over 20, when he transferred to a college in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. Were his formative years amiss, then, in his learning about other places and other people?
Is his view akin to the famous New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg, an illustration of the United States with New York City as the epicenter of the country and the Hudson River the border of the known world? We can now at least add Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago to the map of “the realm.”
Our President has now traveled some, but what we recommend is another kind of travel. Not a state-sponsored trip or a venture to scout locations for future Trump Towers. This would be a genuine travel experience, enriching and eye-opening, showcasing other cultures and ways of living.
It will extend far beyond viewing military parades, hobnobbing with such “understanding” world leaders as Kim Jong Un, or taking tea with the King.
WHERE, then, should the President go? As Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft is not yet ready to take passengers to Mars, perhaps he could explore our own vast country?
Maybe he could travel to “flyover country,” the farming states, where his ying-yanging tariffs and trade restrictions have played havoc with rural economies. Or possibly to California, number one in homeless U. S. citizens, and while there, regale homeless veterans (approximately 32,500 nationwide) with tales of his brave exploits invading and bombing foreign countries.
Or he might tour the Great Lakes, and rename the other four?
WHEN should he go? This will be tough, as he is very busy building his ballroom and renaming bodies of water.
How about a trip in early November, around the midterm elections? Despite the long-discredited accusation of widespread voter fraud, it would be reassuring to know he might be so caught up divvying out ladles of soup in a soup kitchen somewhere that he wouldn’t remember to deploy the military for “election security.”
HOW will he travel? He should definitely not take his Qatari-donated, newly renovated 747, especially after last time, when he had to be smuggled off clandestinely in a catering truck. It’s unlikely any traveling companions, like the Secretary of State or of the Treasury, are going to fall for the ruse a second time. Besides, we may need those people. No more decoys!
Perhaps the President could fly commercially, although this likely would expose him to undue suffering. Without gold bathroom fixtures and maple wood floors, the trip will be no “Luxury Experience.” If only he still had his “Trump Shuttle,” bought with a massive loan he later defaulted on, saying then, “I’m smart. I got out at a good time.”
Considering the potential pitfalls, maybe it’s best the President travel incognito, disguised perhaps as an elderly woman wearing a lot of bronzer.
Wherever, whenever, however: our President needs a vacation.
Moreover, we need a vacation from him.
If the President refuses our travel suggestions, here’s another idea:
Let’s get him a pet! He has never owned a pet. As we know with our children, pets teach essential life lessons: compassion and empathy; they instill a sense of responsibility. There is a well-established connection between those who can care for a pet and those who can care for people.
So, which pet should we choose? A puppy? A kitten? A boa constrictor?
Imagine, the President may even decide he likes having a pet. After all, what is more obedient than a well-trained dog, besides possibly the Cabinet? And what is more docile than a sweet kitten, other than plausibly the Supreme Court?
The President may even become more mellow with a pet afoot and less likely to slap tariffs on our allies, or attempt to annex our neighbors, or bully our Congress. (Realizing, of course, a bully requires active participation from the bullied to maintain his status.)
Maybe we should do both: get the President a pet and devise a travel plan for him. (Do you think we could possibly convince him to leave his phone at home?)
Let’s go for it! After all:
Travel far enough, you meet yourself. (David Mitchell)
And for our President, that would likely be the most profound discovery of all.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."