Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations

Virginia legislators to weigh automatic voter restoration

Del. Harring listens as Del. Price rips into Del. Milde
Shaban Athuman
/
VPM News
House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, listens as Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, gives remarks in support of HJ2, a constitutional amendment that gives every person who meets the qualifications of voters set forth in the Constitution of Virginia the fundamental right to vote, during a General Assembly session on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia.

A similar proposal previously was scuttled in committee.

This story was reported by WHRO News.

Virginia Democrats are moving forward again with a proposed constitution amendment that would automatically restore voting rights to people who have finished serving time for a felony.

Virginia is the only state that permanently disenfranchises voters with felony convictions. The constitution grants the governor discretion over whose rights to restore, but there is no provision to ever restore those rights without intervention.

The state’s law suspending the civil liberties of people convicted of felonies dates back to the 1902 version of the state constitution.

The proposed amendment, sponsored by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria) would enshrine automatic voting rights restoration into the state’s constitution.

House Speaker Don Scott, whose rights were restored in 2013 after serving seven years in federal prison, explained why the amendment is a priority for Democrats.

“The constitution says that these are inalienable rights, and ‘inalienable’ means that you can't take them away,” Scott said. “We believe that voting is one of those, and so we want to do a constitutional amendment for restoration of rights for those people who have paid their debt to society."

Currently, the state constitution reads, “No person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote unless his civil rights have been restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority.”

The amendment would update the constitution to say no person with a felony conviction would be entitled to vote during incarceration, but would have voting rights restored automatically upon release.

The previous three governorsshowed support for the idea, including Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell. The rate at which current Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin restored thosevoting rights since taking office dramatically slowed compared to his predecessors.

The process to amend Virginia’s constitution requires a majority of votes for approval in both the state Senate and House of Delegates during two General Assembly sessions.

If the resolution is approved this session, it would be voted on in next year’s session. If it’s approved then, it would go to the people for a vote in November 2026.

This is not the first time a similar amendment has come before the House and Senate. In 2021, an amendment to restore voting rights passed the General Assembly. However, after being passed to the 2022 session, it died in a subcommittee of the House Privileges and Elections Committee.


Cianna Morales covers Virginia Beach and general assignments for WHRO.