Re-enfranchising Ex-Felons in Virginia

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The logic behind prison time is that, by the end of it, when a person is released, they have paid their debt to society. But for the vast majority of people who have been found guilty of felony crimes, even after serving their sentence they aren’t allowed to vote. This disproportionately affects African-American men, who spend more time in prison than white people, and there is a concerted effort throughout the country to return voting rights to ex-felons who have served their time.

While there are ways that ex-felons can have their rights restored, these are on a one-to-one basis. The governor of Virginia, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, has been moving to re-enfranchise felons in his state, some 206,000 people. After a move to do this across the board, he was stopped by Republicans, who claimed that it was a blatantly partisan effort to get more votes for Hillary Clinton, who is already leading in the state by a safe margin.

At this point, about 13,000 people were re-enfranchised, who had registered before the Republican suit brought the program to a halt. Those people will have to register again, but will be able to vote in the November general election. The governor’s office is working to address the individual cases of as many ex-felons as they can ahead of the October 17 deadline for voter registration.

The process is facing obstructions thrown up by political opponents. If Governor McAuliffe’s office is successful, it could establish a precedent that other states might consider in their own legislatures and governors’ offices.

The ability of ex-felons to vote is a significant civil rights issue of the day, especially for African-Americans who are disproportionally subject to mass incarceration. Voter rights have been a hot button issue in the last few years as numerous Republican-controlled legislatures have passed laws to change limit access to polls which have mostly impacted minority voters.