December 25, 2019 – Thirty Hillsborough County residents received the Christmas gift they had hoped for since the November 2018 general election — the restoration of their right to cast their ballot in an election.

December 19, 2019 – When Angel Sanchez graduated from Valencia College in 2014 – and led his fellow graduates in a rousing chant of “we don’t settle, we succeed,” at the conclusion of his commencement speech – people at Valencia knew he was going places.

November 24, 2019 – Florida voters overwhelmingly passed Amendment 4 last year with the intention of automatically restoring voting rights to most felons (Returning Citizens) who have served their time, but how it works remains cloudy.

November 13, 2019 – Check the box and you lose the ability to secure a job, rent an apartment or get a loan. The formerly incarcerated—returning citizens—often face a cruel irony in America.

November 2, 2019 – Desmond Meade can’t vote in Orlando’s mayoral contest. But he’ll be in the city on Saturday anyway, cheering as hundreds of recently re-enfranchised ex-felons (Returning Citizens) and their families head to the polls together.

November 2, 2019 – Several convicted felons (Returning Citizens) voted for the first time Saturday in Orange County, in the first election season since Amendment Four passed.

October 21, 2019 – A Washington attorney and criminal justice reform advocate who previously served time in prison is seeking to become the first formerly incarcerated person elected to the Washington Legislature, at least in modern times.

October 14, 2019 – Desmond Meade succeeded in building a movement to restore voting rights to 1.4 million U.S. citizens in Florida. Until recently, he faced a barrier securing housing.

July 3, 2019 – A war of words has broken out over the Amendment 4 bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which requires former felons (Returning Citizens) to pay off all fines and fees included as part of their sentence before their right to vote is restored.

April 2019 – What’s the hardest thing you have ever done in life? What do you name among your greatest accomplishments? How will you be remembered after you’re gone? To each of us, life has dealt a different set of circumstances that have shaped us to become who we are and have influenced our drive and passions.

February 5, 2019 – Desmond Meade is a finalist for the Orlando Sentinel’s Central Floridian of the Year. Meade is the leader of the Amendment 4 movement which granted voting rights back to ex-felons (Returning Citizens).

February 4, 2019 – “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client,” the old adage goes. But Isaac Wright, Jr. knew he was innocent, so he represented himself at his 1991 trial on charges under New Jersey’s “drug kingpin” law. Unsurprisingly, he was convicted and sentenced to life for running one of New York City’s largest narcotics distribution networks.

October 31, 2018 – Angel Sanchez had no time for lunch, much less another interview. The second-year student in the University of Miami School of Law already had so much on tap, including writing an essay on prison for the Harvard Law Review and teaching a high school law class, that he was skipping his own classes and duties at Miami Law’s Innocence Clinic. 

October 23, 2018 – In Florida, returning citizens – or those with felony convictions – are leading a movement by asking: If we’ve paid our debt to society, why are we denied the right to vote? Amendment 4, which is on the November ballot, is capturing nationwide attention.

October 16, 2018 – Voters in Florida are preparing to vote on a measure that would restore voting rights to 1.4 million people with nonviolent felonies who have fully completed their sentences. 

October 12, 2018 – Neil was a Washington, DC, insider, a chief of staff for a powerful congressperson, a staff director for a congressional committee, a force to be reckoned with in conservative DC circles. 

September 26, 2018 – Twenty-five years ago, when he was a sophomore at Ohio State, Neil Volz started volunteering for his state senator, Bob Ney. 

May 23, 2018 – Should convicted felons’ civil rights be restored? Neil Volz, of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition was convicted of conspiracy as part of the Jack Ambramoff lobbying scandal more than a decade ago. 

January 28, 2018 – When Desmond Meade’s wife ran for a seat in Florida’s State House in the 2016 election, he knocked on doors and helped her campaign. 

August 11, 2017 – When UCF graduate Angel Sanchez starts law school in Miami this week, it will be a strange sort of homecoming.