Virginia governor restores voting rights for 200,000 former convicts

The governor said he had acted to try and counter lengthy discrimination against African Americans

People react to Mr McAuliffe's signing of the order (AP)

The governor of Virginia has taken the controversial step to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 former convicted offenders - a move that could play an important role in November’s elections.

Terry McAuliffe said he was using his executive power to allow them to vote again, circumventing his Republican-run legislature. He said the action would overturn a Civil War-era provision in the state’s Constitution he claimed was intended to disenfranchise African-Americans.

Reports said the majority of the 200,000 former felons affected were African Americans, which have traditionally made up a key segment of support for Democrats.

The governor’s action means that every Virginia convict who has completed their sentence and finished any supervised release, parole or probation requirements by April 22 will be able to vote, run for public office, serve on a jury and become a notary public. The administration estimates that about 206,000 people will be impacted.

“Too often in both our distant and recent history, politicians have used their authority to restrict people's ability to participate in our democracy,” Mr McAuliffe said in a statement.
“Today we are reversing that disturbing trend and restoring the rights of more than 200,000 of our fellow Virginians, who work, raise families and pay taxes in every corner of our Commonwealth.”
On Thursday he said there was no question “that we’ve had a horrible history in voting rights as relates to African-Americans”.

The Associated Press said that Mr McAuliffe had made the restoration of rights of former convicts a priority of his administration. Before Friday's order, the administration had restored the rights of more than 18,000 felons, which officials said is more than the past seven governors combined.

The Washington based Sentencing Project estimates that nearly six million Americans are barred from voting because of laws disenfranchising former felons. Maine and Vermont are the only states that do not restrict the voting rights of convicted felons.

Such policies disproportionately prevent African Americans from voting, the group says. Virginia is among three states where more than one in five black adults have lost their voting rights, according to a recent Sentencing Project report.

The Washington Post said that three states - Kentucky, Iowa and Florida - permanently revoke voting rights for people with prior felony convictions. Virginia has also been one of those states that revoked the right to vote. But in recent years, both Mr McAuliffe and former governor Robert McDonnell have used their executive authority to try to restore voting rights to ex-offenders.

“While we celebrate today in Virginia, we know the work continues in states like Florida, where people remain denied the restoration of their fundamental right to vote,” said Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project.