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.
A federal district court judge sided with the state last summer after finding otherwise, but John Sherman with the voting rights group Fair Elections Center argued before a three-judge appeals panel in Richmond Friday:
“Because voting is expressive conduct, the First Amendment forbids Governor Youngkin from choosing which voters, which disenfranchised Virginians may vote and which may not be based on a subjective responsible citizenship test,” Sherman said.
For the state, Solicitor General Erika Maley said the right to vote is protected by other amendments and someone’s status as a returning citizen makes them unique.
“Whatever the nature of a federal constitutional right to vote, it's not a right that's held by felons,” Maley argued.
Circuit Judge Pamela Harris also seemed interested in the authority the court had to review the governor’s rights restoration process. A kind of clemency, rights restoration is considered a check against the courts, and she drilled into whether that precluded her authority to review Youngkin’s process.
The three-judge panel did not hint at how they would rule in the case; a ruling isn't expected for months.
Another case challenging Virginia's disenfranchisement of felons was allowed to continue thanks to a ruling out of the same Richmond-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals late last year. The state has since appealed to that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court which has yet to rule on the request.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
