Despite reforms over the past decades, advocates say the number of Americans disenfranchised by state laws barring ex-prisoners from voting has grown—with a disproportionate impact on people of color.

“When you talk about the right to vote, you’re not just talking about enfranchising an individual,” says ex-offender Desmond Meade, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

“Every day, in minority communities, you have people getting arrested … As that individual loses [his or her] right to vote, that community loses another voice, to the point that that community becomes insignificant.”

Meade’s coalition is fighting to overturn a Florida law passed last year that denies automatic restoration of voting rights to those who’ve served their time.

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