Virginia Governor To Allow Over 200,000 Felons To Vote, Republicans Plan Lawsuit


The controversial order has put some of McAuliffe’s allies in an awkward position. While “restoring” the voting rights of felons’ has been on the liberal agenda for sometime now, they were saying such a project would be implemented in a very different way from the recent decision in Virginia. Of course, Hillary wasn’t running for president back then, so it wasn’t as urgent for Democrats that these criminals be able to vote:

“A lawyer for former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine said in 2010 that the restoration of rights must be done on a case-by-case basis. A blanket order restoring voting rights would be a ‘rewrite of the law,’ Mark Rubin, a counselor to Kaine, said in a letter at the time.

A spokesman for McAuliffe said Republicans have yet to express any specific constitutional objections to the executive order.

‘The governor is disappointed that Republicans would go to such lengths to continue locking people who have served their time out of their democracy,’ Brian Coy said in a statement. ‘These Virginians are qualified to vote and they deserve a voice, not more partisan schemes to disenfranchise them.’

Virginia, Iowa, Kentucky and Florida are the only states that strip all felons of their voting rights for life unless a state official restores them, according to the Washington D.C.-based Sentencing Project. Such policies make black Americans of voting age four times more likely to lose their voting rights than the rest of the adult population, the group says.

McAuliffe says people who have served their time should be given a second chance to exercise their civic duties. He has also said he’s certain he has such authority after consulting with legal and constitutional experts, including Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who is also a Democrat.

The governor’s order enables every Virginia felon to vote, run for public office, serve on a jury and become a notary public if they have completed their sentence and finished any supervised release, parole or probation requirements as of April 22.”

Source: AP



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