Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration acknowledged this week, with early voting underway, that it is working to fix an error that caused an unknown number of eligible Virginians to be removed from the voter rolls.
State election officials are working with Virginia State Police to identify voters whose registration was “canceled in error” and begin the process of having those people immediately reinstated, Andrea Gaines, a spokesperson for the Department of Elections, told VPM News Tuesday.
The Richmond news outlet reported the problem appears to stem from recent changes the agency has made in an attempt to remove people from the rolls who had their voting rights restored by a Governor but went on to be convicted of a new felony.
In Virginia, a felony conviction automatically results in the loss of a person’s civil rights, such as the right to vote, serve on a jury, run for office and carry a firearm. The Governor has the sole discretion to restore those civil rights, apart from firearm rights, which must be restored by a court.
VPM previously reported on the case of an Arlington County man who was taken off the voter rolls for a probation violation before being reinstated by a judge. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia also said last week it had received “troubling reports” of Virginians having their voting rights revoked on the basis of technical probation violations, something it called “unprecedented and unconstitutional.”
