More than one in five African-Americans in Virginia are disenfranchised, according to The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based nonprofit that focuses on criminal justice. McAuliffe has said the reinstatement of felons’ voting rights would distance Virginia from Jim Crow laws that have haunted it.
It’s 2016, but Republicans still think only white property owners should vote. Virginia is one of only four states in the nation – along with Florida, Iowa, and Kentucky – to disenfranchise all individuals with felony convictions for life. The only means of regaining voting rights in these states is through action by a governor or pardons board.
Please note on July 22, 2016, the Supreme Court declared the Governor’s grant orders of April 22, May 31, and June 24 to be unconstitutional. If you have previously used the searchable database, your status may have been changed to reflect that decision. If your rights were restored before April 22, 2016, your rights were not affected by the Supreme Court’s decision.
After the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in July that governors couldn’t restore the voting rights of felons en masse, Gov. Terry McAuliffe vowed the 13,000 felons that registered through the executive order he issued would be able to cast their ballots come November.
http://www.sentencingproject.org/issues/felony-disenfranchisement/