Virginia Democrats are moving forward again with a proposal to change the state constitution to 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 history of suspending felons’ civil liberties dates back to the 1902 constitution. The law has been in place since then.
The proposed amendment, HJ2, sponsored by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria) would enshrine automatic voting rights restoration into the state’s constitution.
House Speaker Don Scott, who himself had his rights 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 told WHRO. “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 that no person with a felony conviction would be entitled to vote during incarceration, but would have voting rights restored automatically upon release.
The cause to restore those civil liberties to people after they complete their sentences had support from the previous three governors, including Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell. The rate at which current Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin restored those rights since taking office dramatically slowed down compared to his predecessors.
The process to amend Virginia’s constitution requires a majority of votes for approval in both the Senate and House of Delegates during two General Assembly sessions.
If the resolution gains approval this session, it would continue to 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.
