• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. felons' voting rights>

Virginia governor restores voting rights to over 22,000 felons

Our Staff
October 11, 2019
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam

Gov. Ralph Northam used his executive authority to restore voting rights for felons, noting that Virginia is among the states that permanently strips such rights after a felony conviction.

Zach Gibson/Getty Images

More than 22,000 Virginians with felony convictions have regained the right to vote thanks to executive actions taken by Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam since he took office in January 2018, his office announced this week.

In a statement, Northam's office said he has so far restored the civil rights of 22,205 people who had been convicted of felonies and have since completed their sentences. Those civil rights include the right to vote as well as the right to serve on juries, run for public office and become a notary public.

Northam previously announced in February that nearly 11,000 convicted felons had their voting rights restored under his watch.


"Virginia remains one of the few states in the nation that permanently strip individuals of their civil rights after a felony conviction," Northam said in the statement. "I'm proud to use my executive clemency power to restore those rights to Virginians who have completed their sentences and returned to their communities seeking a second chance."

Northam's actions follow the lead set by his predecessor, Democratic Terry McAuliffe, who used his executive power to restore the voting rights of more than 200,000 convicted felons during his term.

From Your Site Articles
  • A model in Virginia, where political reform and pragmatism won this ... ›
  • Florida voter forms still say felons cannot register to vote - The Fulcrum ›
  • Voting rights restored to some ex-felons in North Carolina - The Fulcrum ›
  • Voting rights restored to some ex-felons in North Carolina - The Fulcrum ›
  • Confusing felon voting laws are hurdle for younger voters - The Fulcrum ›
  • We need to do more to restore felons' voting rights - The Fulcrum ›
  • Virginia is first Southern state to adopt voting rights act - The Fulcrum ›
  • Give the same power to all felons who have done their time - The Fulcrum ›
  • Give the same power to all felons who have done their time - The Fulcrum ›
  • Virginia GOP embraces election changes at its convention - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights To Felons, Again : The ... ›
  • Voting Rights Restoration Efforts in Virginia | Brennan Center for ... ›
  • How Letting Felons Vote Is Changing Virginia ›
  • Amendment to restore Virginia felons' voting rights dies along party ... ›
felons' voting rights
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

We’ve expanded the Supreme Court before. It’s time to do so again.

Anushka Sarkar

The ‘great replacement theory’ is nonsense

Debilyn Molineaux

Caught in a draft

Lawrence Goldstone

Congress shows signs of bipartisanship with retirement benefits bill

Mario H. Lopez

Fair representation: More Black people needed in STEM today

Jennifer Stimpson

First instincts, second thoughts

Debilyn Molineaux
latest News

Democratic senators seek $20 billion in election funding

Reya Kumar
5h

Podcast: A conversation with former Rep. Carlos Curbelo

Our Staff
15h

Elections require more consistent federal funding, per report

Reya Kumar
18 May

Podcast: A new understanding of the right

Our Staff
18 May

Supreme Court continues to chip away at campaign finance laws

David Meyers
17 May

Podcast: Depolarizing America

Our Staff
17 May
Videos

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirstFriday Yap Politics

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
​Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Democratic senators seek $20 billion in election funding

Government
Podcast: A conversation with former Rep. Carlos Curbelo

Podcast: A conversation with former Rep. Carlos Curbelo

Leadership
Supreme Court expansion protest

We’ve expanded the Supreme Court before. It’s time to do so again.

Judicial
North Carolina primary election workers

Elections require more consistent federal funding, per report

Podcast: A new understanding of the right

Podcast: A new understanding of the right

Leveraging big ideas
Memorial for victims of Buffalo shooting

The ‘great replacement theory’ is nonsense

Media