CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -A new voting rights initiative is underway in our state tonight.
This effort known as Get Your Vote Back is designed to get former inmates on the states voting roles once they have finished parole and paid restitution.
For one of the pitchmen politics has become a way of life after prison.
Meeting people comes easy to Franklin Deese.
His personality lights up a room, and the glow becomes brighter once his secret is out of the bag.
"As a young man, I was very hard headed wouldn't listen. I got caught up in the cycle that ended up with me going to prison for armed robbery," he said.
Deese was at the Charlotte School of law getting the word out with civil groups that convicted inmates in North Carolina have the right to vote, once their debt is paid in full to society.
It is a lesson that he has lived.
Deese said, "I became the first African American ever to be elected Mayor in Marshville.
And he's on his fourth term.
Marshville is best known for being the home of Country Music singer Randy Travis, don't leave out its thriving poultry industry.
Deese is turning a negative into a by positive with a self published book titled from Inmate to Mayor.
The message is simple.
" If this guy can go from being an inmate to now being the mayor, surely I can go from wherever I am to where I need to be," he said. "I want my life to be a testament and an example for all people."
The book is part testimonial, part motivational, and critics say all inspirational.
By his own admission, Deese was cocky and very street wise, and even after 10 years in prison he's had a moment with the president.
For the Marshville Mayor this printed journey is 369 pages complete with both baby steps and missteps that are now strides going the distance.
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