NAACP rejects Youngkin’s policy restoring voting rights to former inmates

RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ) - The Virginia NAACP made a statement Friday disagreeing with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s overturn of policy that restores voting rights to former inmates with nonviolent felonies. The policy was created by Former Governor Robert F. McDonnell and automatically restores former prisoners’ rights after serving their sentences. According to the Virginia NAACP, this overturn will significantly reduce the number of former inmates with the right to vote.

Virginia NAACP President Robert N. Barnette, Jr. issued the following statement:

“The significant reduction of restoring felons’ rights to vote is a step backward and undoes the previous work that granted thousands of Virginians who served their time a second chance.”

Virginia and Kentucky are the only states that permanently deny voting rights to those who have been convicted of a crime.

The current policy is that anyone who is convicted of a felony in the Commonwealth must petition the governor to regain their privileges. The petition is then reviewed on a case-by-case basis under no certain criteria.