Internal documents obtained by the NAACP of Virginia show applicants who are requesting their voting rights be restored are getting denied without being given a reason why.
That’s the latest update in an ongoing attempt by several voting rights groups to get answers about rights restoration under Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration.
In Virginia, someone with a felony conviction who has already served their time can’t get their voting rights restored unless the Governor says so. Each Governor can come up with their own process and criteria.
Since Republican Glenn Youngkin has taken office the number of approved applications has slowed, and according to documents requested by the NAACP under the Freedom of Information Act, Virginians who’ve had their requests denied were given no reason why.
“They’re essentially form letters and they don’t provide any information about the reason for their rejection or the reason for their denied application,” said Ryan Snow, a lawyer with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, during a press conference at the state capitol Tuesday morning.
In a letter sent to the NAACP over the weekend, administration officials say they’re less likely to quickly restore rights to anyone whose crime involved using a gun. But NAACP president Robert Barnette says that’s simply not enough information.
“Governor Youngkin’s painfully slow opaque process is sure to have discriminatory impact on Black Virginians and other Virginians of color,” Barnette said.
According to the ACLU of Virginia, who is representing several plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the administration because of this issue, more than 300,000 Virginians are disenfranchised because of a felony record. Nearly half of those individuals are Black, even though only about 20-percent of the state’s population is Black.
The NAACP of Virginia is continuing to push the current administration to announce clear guidelines and procedures for voting rights restoration. Attorney Jay Jones says want assurances that voting history, race and geographic location are not being taken into account.
“That these applications are not twisting in the wind for months and months and months,” Jones said. “We certainly believe that Virginians of all colors deserve to know what’s going into this decision-making process associated with the fundamental right (to vote).”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
