RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Friday that he had restored voting rights to 3,496 felons — but a local legislator who spearheaded a push to restore voting rights to all felons who’ve served their time said it isn’t enough.
Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, said backing the constitutional amendment she introduced would have been a better option if the governor was concerned about supporting voting rights.
“Instead, he and his fellow Republicans in the General Assembly killed the measure, ensuring at least two more years of continuing discrimination at the ballot box,” Locke wrote to The Virginian-Pilot on Monday.
Locke introduced a constitutional amendment in 2021 that would have automatically restored voting rights to all felons after they completed their sentences. Constitutional amendments must pass the General Assembly two years in a row, and then be approved by voters in a referendum, before taking effect.
Locke’s measure passed the legislature last year, but died in a House of Delegates subcommittee in March. No one spoke against the bill, and legislators in the subcommittee who objected did not provide a reason for their vote.
The senator said she plans to put forth the amendment again next year.
“Participation in the electoral process is what our country was founded upon: that every person has a voice in their government,” Locke wrote. “Racist laws through the centuries have inhibited that fundamental right, and prohibiting returning citizens from accessing the ballot box is one of the last vestiges of those laws.”
In a Friday statement, the Republican governor said he was “encouraged” that thousands of Virginians had their voting rights returned.
“Individuals with their rights restored come from every walk of life and are eager to provide for themselves, their families and put the past behind them for a better tomorrow,” Youngkin wrote.
Youngkin said the decisions were a coordinated effort from the secretary of the commonwealth, as well as several state agencies, including the Department of Elections and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.
The administration will be restoring rights on an ongoing basis, according to the governor’s statement. Applicants waiting for rights to be restored should check the status of their application online.
Kim Bobo, executive director of Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy — a nonpartisan coalition of various faiths that work together for racial, economic and social justice — said the center was pleased by the announcement.
“We think that was absolutely the right thing to do, but we think it should be done automatically so he doesn’t have to waste his time and so there is no question that everyone deserves (their rights back),” she said.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Kay Coles James said in a statement Friday that the restoration of voting rights provided a “fresh step” to those who’ve served their time for past mistakes.
“I look forward to their successful futures,” she wrote.
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