No one may have been more surprised by the decisive moment in last week’s first GOP presidential debate than Desmond Meade.

Meade is executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which works to restore voting rights in the state to former felons. Florida has long been one of the states that have made it most difficult for former felons to recover the ability to vote. In 2018, the coalition led a successful effort to pass a constitutional amendment to make it easier for those residents to regain that right.

The federal judge overseeing a criminal case against former President Donald Trump for interfering with the 2020 presidential election has set a trial date of March 4, 2024, brushing aside Trump's arguments for a two-year delay.