Voting Rights Restoration Efforts in Virginia
Executive advocacy
The Virginia Constitution disenfranchises people with felony convictions for life.
In the last weeks of former Governor Warner’s term in office, we participated in an advocacy and outreach campaign to persuade him to issue an executive order restoring voting rights to people who had completed their sentences. The Brennan Center drafted a letter urging this action. Governor Warner left office on January 14, 2006, without issuing such an order, but efforts to restore voting rights in Virginia continue in the legislature, the governor’s office, and the public arena.