Virginia

Va. Gov. Youngkin restores voting rights to thousands of ex-felons

Published

2 years ago

May 21, 2022

Va. Gov. Youngkin restores voting rights to thousands of ex-felons

RICHMOND — Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a conservative Republican who has usually projected a tough-on-crime picture, introduced Friday that he has restored voting and different civil rights to three,496 ex-felons.

“I’m inspired that over 3,400 Virginians will take this crucial first step in the direction of vibrant futures as residents with full civil rights,” Youngkin mentioned in a written assertion. “People with their rights restored come from each stroll of life and are keen to supply for themselves, their households and put the previous behind them for a greater tomorrow.”

In most states, convicted felons mechanically regain the suitable to vote upon the completion of their sentences. Virginia is one among 11 that completely strip residents of the suitable to vote upon conviction of a felony, in accordance with the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures. Felons right here additionally lose the suitable to own a firearm, maintain public workplace, serve on a jury or as a notary.

However the Virginia Structure offers the governor the facility to revive most of these rights as soon as a felon has accomplished his or her sentence. The one exception is firearms rights, which solely a Circuit Court docket choose can restore.

Virginia governors of each events have taken steps over the previous decade to make it simpler for felons to regain the suitable to vote, beginning with Republican Robert F. McDonnell, a former prosecutor who championed the trigger as an ethical challenge, and drastically selecting up pace below Democrats Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam.

McDonnell intervened in a number of thousand circumstances earlier than leaving workplace in 2014. McAuliffe restored voting and different civil rights to about 173,000 felons. Northam did so for greater than 111,000 former prisoners and championed a proposed constitutional modification that might have mechanically restored voting rights for felons upon completion of their incarceration.

The measure handed the Normal Meeting final 12 months, when Democrats managed the state Home and Senate, but it surely hit a roadblock as soon as Republicans took management of the Home in January.

To amend the structure, the legislature should cross laws two years in a row — with an election in between — after which win approval from voters in a referendum. The measure died in a Republican-controlled Home committee this 12 months, regardless of bipartisan assist.

Youngkin’s motion to revive rights presents a softer picture of the brand new governor, who careworn law-and-order themes throughout his marketing campaign final 12 months in opposition to McAuliffe, who was looking for a comeback. Youngkin sharply criticized Northam for the state Parole Board’s resolution, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, to launch some growing older violent offenders, together with a person who’d served many years for killing a Richmond police officer.

“The restoration of rights course of gives a recent step ahead for people who’ve made errors, however have achieved their obligation to our neighborhood and want to be full and productive residents of our Commonwealth,” Kay Coles James, who handles rights restoration requests as Youngkin’s secretary of the commonwealth, mentioned in a written assertion. “I look ahead to their profitable futures.”

The administration will restore rights “on an ongoing foundation,” in accordance with the announcement from Youngkin’s workplace, which invited ex-felons looking for to have their rights restored to go to www.restore.virginia.gov.

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Virginia

Virginia Remains On Top

Published

4 hours ago

November 1, 2024

Press Room

— By Katie Farthing

Read on for some of the ways Virginia is ranked tops:

Our college life

USA Today rated Charlottesville and Williamsburg as two of the best small college towns in the nation thanks to their rich history, beautiful scenery, and fun daily life.

Our beer

Staunton has the 10th best small town beer scene, according to USA Today.

Our museums

We’re home to the 7th best free museum in the nation, designated by USA Today. The Blue Ridge Music Center in Galax lets visitors write song lyrics and mix mountain music, as well as see live performances.

Our small town food scene

Abingdon may be mini in stature, but it’s high in the small town food scene—number 3 in the country to be exact, according to USA Today.

Our niche neighborhoods

Uniquely charming and underrated, Colonial Village in Arlington is the best place to live, according to Niche. It’s all thanks to a lively nightlife, beautiful parks, highly rated-schools, and a young population of residents.

Our airports

Dulles International Airport is the 11th best in the world and second in the country, according to AirHelp.

This is web-exclusive content from the December 2024 issue.

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Virginia

How Virginia's voter roll purge could impact the election

Published

12 hours ago

October 31, 2024

Press Room

How Virginia's voter roll purge could impact the election

Jude Joffe-Block:

There’s a pattern where people have visited the DMV, and they at some point there must have made a mistake on a form where they identified — they marked a box identifying themselves as noncitizens somewhere in those forms. We’re not really sure how exactly this happens.

But after that visit to the DMV, they got a letter in the mail from their local election official, saying, we think you might not be a citizen. Please affirm your citizenship.

We spoke to a voter, Nadra Wilson, who that letter was sent to the wrong address. It got forwarded. By the time she got it, the deadline had already passed. She was able to re-register. We spoke to another voter, Rina Shaw. She did get the letter in the mail letting her know that she had to affirm her citizenship. And she did send it back.

But, even then, she was still not on the rolls. And she was able to call and sort that out. But all of this does take time. Both of those voters did end up voting early this week, though.

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Virginia

Syracuse football: what to watch for vs Virginia Tech

Published

20 hours ago

October 31, 2024

Press Room

Syracuse football: what to watch for vs Virginia Tech

The Syracuse Orange (5-2, 2-2) welcome the Virginia Tech Hokies (5-3, 3-1)to the Dome on Saturday for a critical ACC match-up. Kickoff is Noon on The CW and here’s what we’re watching for:

Kevin: Protect Kyle

Virginia Tech defensive end Antwaun Powell-Ryland has nine sacks and seventeen hurries on the season and leads a strong Hokies pass rush. Syracuse needs to keep APR from disrupting their passing game so that Kyle McCord can attack a secondary rated the second-worst in coverage by PFF. Will the Orange use screens and draws to force APR to read and react instead of letting him just tee off and attack McCord? If Syracuse can negate APR’s impact they could score enough to win this one.

Mike: Make the Most of Allen

With Yasin Willis doubtful for Saturday’s game, this could be the first time since last season where LeQuint Allen is leaned on as a bell-cow back. How much that affects the offensive gameplan remains to be seen, but it might incite more designed plays as opposed to the RPO package SU has run very frequently. The o-line is struggling to block effectively on option plays lately so to make sure they can get Allen wide lanes to run through, a more traditional approach could work better this week.

Dom: Keeping momentum up for Syracuse’s 12th man

The Orange are once again back in the Dome for the first time in quite a while (September 28 to be exact). Since then, Syracuse’s road trip resulted in two nice wins over UNLV and NC State, then most recently with a bitter blowout loss. Fans will be looking for the Orange to bounce back against an inconsistent but still tough ACC opponent. Considering it’s also alumni weekend, the Dome should have plenty of seats filled and should look to take care of business.

Max: Keep Kyron Drones in the pocket

VT’s quarterback is extremely dangerous in the running game, racking up over 300 rushing yards through eight games, good for 19th in the ACC. The only conference QBs with more rushing yards are Georgia Tech’s Haynes King and Stanford’s Ashton Daniels, who gave the Orange fits on the ground this year. Syracuse’s rush defense still ranks in the top 50 in rush yards allowed per game, and it will need to keep Drones in the pocket to find some success this Saturday.

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What will you be watching for on Saturday?

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