For Meade, the attention over the petition has injected a new enthusiasm into his failed bid to have his rights restored, which he abandoned as a result of new requirements imposed by Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi who — with the blessing of the other members of the Florida Cabinet — changed the process shortly after taking office in 2011.
Meade, who originally applied to have his rights restored in 2006, got caught up in a backlog of thousands of others eager to take advantage of changes authorized by former Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet.
But the process took so long that, by the time Meade’s application was examined, he was no longer eligible for the quasi-automatic restoration of civil rights, which include the right to vote.
By then, the new system instituted in 2011 required felons convicted of nonviolent crimes to wait a minimum of five years to have their rights restored. Others could wait up to 10 years before being eligible to apply.
Since the changes went into effect, just a fraction of the more than 100,000 former felons who sought to have their rights restored were successful.
