Federal court slaps down Virginia law that has disenfranchised thousands

[AverageOldGuy]

Here's a partial quote, read the full article -- it's a bit complicated but THIS IS GOOD NEWS.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/judge-rules-virginia-unlawfully-denied-voting-rights-to-hundreds-of-thousands/

A federal court ruled Thursday that Virginia’s lifetime voting ban for people with certain felony convictions violates federal law — a landmark decision that could restore voting rights to hundreds of thousands of Virginians, especially Black residents long targeted by the ban.

U.S. District Court Judge John Gibney, appointed by former President Barack Obama, ruled that Virginia’s constitution unlawfully strips voting rights far beyond what Congress allowed when it readmitted the state to the Union after the Civil War.

The postwar law — the Virginia Readmission Act of 1870 — was designed specifically to protect the political power of newly freed Black Americans.

“For well over a century, the Commonwealth of Virginia has disobeyed a federal law designed to protect the right of former enslaved people to vote,” Gibney wrote. “When the United States started to readmit the rebellious slave states after the Civil War, Congress feared that the former Confederate powers would invent new crimes with which they could disenfranchise Black Americans.”

Virginia’s current constitution permanently bars anyone convicted of a felony from voting unless their rights are restored by the governor — a discretionary process that has historically and disproportionately disenfranchised Black residents.

Here's the background. In Virginia, anyone convicted of a felony loses the right to vote, the right to serve on a jury, the right to serve as a notary public, and the right to possess a firearm. When a convicted felon has served his/her term, in order to restore voting rights, jury, and notary public, the individual must apply in writing to the Secretary of the Commonwealth and present proof that his/her sentence is completed. To restore firearms rights, the individual must appear before the court that found him/her guilty and ask for gun rights to be restored.

As best I can tell, something like 250,000 to 300,000 FORMER felons have not had their rights restored. Some substantial percentage of these finished their sentences 10-20 years ago. In the rural county where I lived for the past 18 years (moved last March), we advertised in our county and adjoining counties that an attorney would help people get their rights restored -- we restored 5-10 a month.

Now that Virginia has Democrats as Gov, LtGov, and Atty Gen as well as a big majority in the General Assembly, we will pass a constitutional amendment this year that will abolish this vestige of Jim Crow.

[spooky3]

1. Gov. McAuliffe restored rights by executive order--but there may

Be more recent cases?