Nearly 235,000 Virginians are being notified that their felony convictions should have never kept them from voting and they can now register in time for the 2026 general election, according to the Department of Elections (ELECT).
ELECT told VPM News mailers were sent out to 234,852 people aftera landmark federal court rulingmostly struck down Virginia’s automatic disenfranchisement rule for anyone convicted of a felony.
The notifications come aftermonths of confusionon who are now eligible voters, and as early voting is underway in the 2026 general election.
ELECT said it also sent a total of 998 people — which includes potential duplicates — to local registrars across Virginia on Thursday identifying people whose registrations shouldn’t have been denied or canceled, but were because of the state’s incorrect implementation of US District Court Judge John Gibney’s order.
Months of murky outcomes
Virginia had until June 1 to implement Gibney’s January order, which directed the state to stop prohibiting voter registrations from residents convicted of a felony, other than one of 11 crimes considered common-law felonies when Virginia rejoined Congress in 1870.
At the June 1 deadline, Attorney General Jay Jones’ office said it determined that the list of 11 could apply to 284 modern-day crimes. But Gibney ruled in an Aug. 19 opinion thatJones incorrectly applied his orderand that only the original 11 felonies could be used to disenfranchise someone.
In response, on Sept. 15 Virginia formally reduced the number of felony convictions that would lead to a person losing their voting rights to three:murder, voluntary manslaughterand involuntary manslaughter.
Up to 998 voters denied in error
According to local registrars, Richmond had 37 notices of improper denial of voter registration to send out, Virginia Beach had 30, Henrico County had 15 and Hanover County sent letters out to five residents.
It’s unclear just how many of these rejected applications kept eligible Virginians from casting a ballot in the Aug. 4 primaries.
VPM News has contacted Jones’ office for comment.
George Hawkins Jr., who had sued former Gov. Glenn Youngkin over the rights restoration process, told VPM News on Wednesday he felt his voting status was in a “gray area,” and couldn’t risk breaking the law.
Hawkins said he was advised by an attorney not to register to vote, since his conviction for attempted murder could fall under the murder statute.
“I feel like, to be honest, it’s literally a life-or-death situation, and life is being able to have your voice heard, being able to vote, being able to participate in political processes,” he said in an interview with VPM News. “These type of things literally is what makes you a part of your community and a part of your society. And your society and your community is your life. That’s your everything.”
The notices also indicate that registrars — and new voters — may finally be getting more clarity about voters’ eligibility before the Nov. 3 election.
“The letters are drafted and are ready to go out to the voters today,” Dave Nichols, Hanover’s elections director, said Thursday. “Unfortunately, we don’t have any phone numbers or emails to be able to get to them sooner.”
Nichols, a former ELECT employee, said the state has given local election officials “pretty clear and timely guidance” on the implementation of the federal court order that led to the policy shift.
The mass re-enfranchisement could have major implications for the midterm elections. There were 6,450,223 registered voters in Virginia as of Sept. 1,according to ELECT data.
In 2024 roughly 260,000 people were banned from voting because of felony convictions, according toThe Sentencing Projectadvocacy group, which said the practice affected “one out of every 10 Black voting-eligible Virginians.”
Gov. Abigail Spanbergersaid in Augustthat she had restored the rights of more than 100,000 new potential voters since taking office in January. There could be overlap between those who had their rights restored and those who received notices regarding theKing v. O’Bannonverdict.
After years of being unable to register, as well as months of confusion, potential voters may need to be reached directly in order for them to know they can finally vote.
Shawn Weneta, director of government affairs forCavalier Consulting, shared a memo from his firm that offers a snapshot of how many people could still be disenfranchised.
Only 1,233 (1.2%) of the 103,000 felony sentencing events in fiscal years 2020–2024 (between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2024) included the three disqualifying convictions, said the memo, which reviewed data from the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission.
“It’s really hard to pin this number down very accurately,” Weneta told VPM News in a Thursday interview, “because there’s people that may have been convicted of a felony in Virginia and have moved, and now are in another state and are not voting because they don’t think that they can because they have this conviction in Virginia.”
People who have completed their incarcerations for the three disqualifying convictions could have their rights restored if a ballot measure passes during this fall’s election.
Ballot Question 3, also known asProposed Constitutional Amendment Question 3, asks voters if they want to make the “political rights” restoration process — the rights to vote, to sit on a jury, to run for public office and to become a notary public — automatic once someone is released from prison, and not have to rely on petitioning the governor for clemency.
ELECT’s advisory to local election directors on Sept. 14 said the department pulled a list of people currently incarcerated for a felony who have an absentee application “and will be communicating directly to those localities regarding those individuals.”
“If individuals are currently registered, and ELECT has determined they are physically incarcerated for a common law felony – do not issue ballots to these individuals,” the advisory reads.
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