Virginia’s system of voting rights restoration gives the governor sole discretion to choose when to restore a former felon’s rights… or not. An effort to nix that authority was shot down in a Richmond federal court last year, but voting rights advocates returned to Richmond Friday to appeal.
Critics point to Governor Glenn Youngkin replacing an automatic rights restoration system embraced by previous Democratic governors with a more rigid “responsible citizen” test which has led to a decrease in re-enfranchisement.
George Watkins, a former felon who had his restoration request denied by Youngkin, challenged the process in federal court as unconstitutional; Watkin’s First Amendment rights were violated because Youngkin exercised arbitrary control over his expressive conduct, his right to vote…