The Virginian-Pilot
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Officials in Gov. Bob McDonnell's administration expect to meet soon with advocates who are concerned about their plan to ask nonviolent felons to submit a personal letter as part of an application seeking the restoration of their voting rights.
The meeting, which officials said they'd previously planned, comes after published reports about a new policy requiring that individuals who file papers to regain their voting rights submit a written letter as a component of the application.
It is unclear when the meeting will occur, but ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis said Monday that he had been contacted about it.
Critics of the letter-writing concept have said it is reminiscent of literacy tests once conducted at polls to bar minorities from voting.
But McDonnell administration officials said that isn't the case.
What's being requested isn't a complex essay, said Commonwealth Secretary Janet Polarek, adding that it is similar to the requirement that previously has been a component of the rights-restoration application for violent felons.
Polarek said McDonnell's aim is to have all rights-restoration requests processed within 90 days of their receipt, and the personal letter is one way to help officials assess each applicant, not penalize them.
She said that McDonnell believes in "grace and second chances."
"We expect that if you have paid your debt to society, getting your rights back is the rule not the exception," she said.
Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com
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Kerry Doughertry
Yeah! What she said in her column this morning!
Taxation Without Representation!
Ninety percent of Virginia’s disfranchised population (An estimated 377,847 people) is neither in prison nor in jail, but rather living and working in their communities.
Placing a character test on voting eligibility is reminiscent of past practices that run counter to modern notions of democratic procedure. Once we begin to impose character requirements, voting slips back from being a right for all Americans to a privilege granted by the powerful.
In a more positive vein, the restoration of voting rights can be seen as being in harmony with the rehabilitative goal of sentencing. If an objective of sentencing is to encourage offenders to become less antisocial, then it is in society's interest to engage offenders in productive relationships with the community. Voting is clearly one means of doing so.
James Bailey, Regional Director
Hampton Roads Missing Voter Project
Would they vote?
Seems like we have a bigger problem getting registered voters to cast their ballots to begin with.
Here's a sample of those who took the time to vote during last November's election.
Chesapeake:
53,937 of 141,694 total voters (38.06%)
Norfolk:
39,988 of 117,080 total voters (34.15%)
Portsmouth:
21,963 of 61,196 total voters (35.88%)
Virginia Beach:
100,363 of 280,654 total voters (35.76%)
Come Again?
Care to elaborate on why these Virginians, "(An estimated 377,847 people)", are disenfranchised? Could it be that they are felons who have not applied to have their rights restored? Quit treating them like victims (if that's possible for you), they did this to themselves. And it sounds like they don't care enough to try to get those rights back.
Now I know you read the article, so it's disingenuous to state that this is a character test on voting eligibility. It sounds like they must merely state, in writing, why they want their rights restored. That's not the same thing you are describing and if they are illiterate, I'm sure they can get some help.
I have a question
If they have served their time why aren't voting rights restored immediately? And I mean in serving time that all probation has ended and fines paid. It seems that we pass sentences but in the end they pay their whole lives. Hardly seems fair to me. If they work and pay taxes shouldn't they be allowed to have a say in government without jumping through hoops?
I Disagree
Many of these people have victimized other citizens who will then have no say in restoring the criminals voting rights-Sure, the convicted felon will get to vote, but what about the hardships and in some cases, nightmares the felons caused other citizens?
I sincerely doubt that restoring a convicted felons voting rights will have any influence one way or the other or the recidivism rates and I don't think it is too much to ask that for those applying to have their voting rights that were stripped from them for a good reason to have the bar set higher in order to have those rights restored.
But why stop there? If your position is honest, why would you not want a convicted felon to have the right to own a firearm again? If what you say is true, why shouldn't a convicted felon have that right restored, too? After all, if they've paid their debt to society, then shouldn't they have ALL their rights restored or, does it only extend to the ballot box in the hopes that they will vote a certain way?
Debt paid, restore their rights, but
Most convicted felons are repeaters. Usually because, once out, they can't get a job. Restoring voting rights could be a first step in the right direction for many convicted felons, which includes many crimes of stupidity and NOT crimes of violence and white collar(embezzlement, bribery, extortion, larceny, fraud and Enron stuff). If our correctional institutions cannot teach these people to read and write, they should not be entitled to vote- but where is the fault here. We are paying for them to be behind the bars. Shouldn't we get some return on our investment when they get out?