After a felony, Virginia took away his vote. A court win is giving it back.
- Federal judge nukes Virginia's century-and-a-half-old policy on disenfranchising felons.
- State forced to slash list of 'disqualifying' crimes to just three types of homicide.
- Thousands of former convicts suddenly eligible to hit the ballot box just weeks before Election Day.
- Legal battle sets the stage for a broader constitutional fight over universal suffrage in the Commonwealth.
Brief Summary
A federal court has effectively dismantled Virginia's long-standing prohibition on voting for individuals with felony convictions, ruling that the state's restrictive practices violated an 1870 federal law. Senior U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. determined that the state overstepped its bounds by stripping voting rights for hundreds of statutory felonies, mandating that the list be narrowed down to only common-law crimes related to murder and manslaughter.
Why This Matters
This ruling represents a massive shift in how the state manages its voter rolls, potentially impacting the outcome of upcoming elections by bringing thousands of previously ineligible citizens back into the fold. If you live in Virginia, this change in the legal landscape means that your local election officials are currently processing a influx of new registrations from individuals who were previously barred from the booth. Understanding these shifts is critical, as the definition of 'eligible voter' is currently in flux, and the state is actively pushing to register these newly qualified citizens before the fast-approaching October 23 deadline.