Dem Virginia Gov Restores Voting Rights For Felons

Just in via press release:

Governor Ralph Northam today restored the civil rights of more than 69,000 Virginians using new eligibility criteria that mirror a proposed change to the Constitution of Virginia that would automatically restore voting rights to individuals upon completion of their sentence of incarceration.

Governor Northam announced that going forward, any Virginian released from incarceration will qualify to have their rights restored, even if they remain on community supervision.

This change builds on a number of bipartisan reforms that have been made to the restoration of rights process over the last decade, including streamlining the application and eliminating the waiting period and the prerequisite that court costs and fees be paid prior to having one’s rights restored.

With today’s announcement, Governor Northam has restored civil rights to more than 111,000 people since he took office.

True leadership by @GovernorVA. I’ve said it before, men and women who have paid their debt to society deserve the right to rejoin our democracy. We can and should do this on a nationwide scale.https://t.co/Hx5aAiJ1wZ

— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) March 16, 2021

We applaud Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam for his executive action to restore voting rights to former felons in the Commonwealth. If a felon completes his or her prison term, then he or she deserves to have a voice in our democracy. https://t.co/d9easVJgmx

— Fair Elections Center (@fairerelections) March 16, 2021

BIG Incredible leadership by @GovernorVA for taking this critical step today and giving nearly 70K Virginians a second chance to fully participate in society again. So proud of our Governor and our Commonwealth!!! https://t.co/eWnKho4NGf

— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) March 16, 2021