Virginia Governor Doubles Down on Effort to Restore Voting Rights to Felons

Alec Siegel — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 14:19:27 +0000

"McAuliffe Courtesy of [Kate Wellington via Flickr]

After begin denied by his state’s Supreme Court in July, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday reinstated the voting rights of 13,000 released felons. His Restoration of Rights policy, announced in a speech delivered at Capitol Square in Richmond, is based on McAuliffe’s “belief in the power of second chances and his determination that our Commonwealth will no longer treat these individuals like second class citizens,” according to the official policy memo.

Tuesday’s announcement follows a July 23 decision by Virginia’s Supreme Court that struck down McAuliffe’s previous attempt at restoring voting rights to convicted felons. That case was brought to the court by Republican lawmakers who saw his blanket voting restoration efforts as unconstitutional. The court agreed. “The assertion that a Virginia Governor has the power to grant blanket, group pardons is irreconcilable” with Virginia’s constitutional requirement “that the Governor communicate to the General Assembly the ‘particulars of every case’ and state his ‘reasons’ for each pardon,” the 4-3 decision found.

Gov: “The voting rights of the nearly 13,000 Virginians who registered to vote since April 22 have been individually restored again” #VARoR

— Terry McAuliffe (@GovernorVA) August 22, 2016

By reviewing each particular case of the 13,000 felons whose voting rights he is reinstating, as he claimed he did, McAuliffe is avoiding the “blanket, group pardons” that the Supreme Court’s July decision reprimanded. “If a person is judged to be safe to live in the community, he or she should have a full voice in its governance,” the memo said, while adding Virginia’s current policy regarding convicted felons’ voting rights as being “rooted in a tragic history of voter suppression and marginalization of minorities, and it needs to be overturned.”

A Washington Post poll found that 61 percent of Virginians agree with restoring voting rights to felons. But they are more divided as to what McAuliffe’s intentions are–45 percent of those polled said that he simply wanted to do the right thing, while 42 percent said he wanted to boost voter turnout for Democrats. Whatever his motivations, it seems that the Governor is proceeding with his plan. The policy lays out two steps toward restoring felons’ voting rights as follows:

Step One: Re-restoring the rights of individuals who had their voter registration canceled as a result of the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision.

Step Two: Restoring the rights of other qualified individuals.

“The Virginia Constitution is clear,” McAuliffe said during his speech in Richmond, “I have the authority to restore civil rights without limitation.”

To read more about McAuliffe’s effort, check out Law Street’s previous coverage of the issue.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Some VA Drivers Refuse to Give up Their Confederate Flag License Plates

Alexis Evans — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 21:05:06 +0000

Image Courtesy of [John Ramspott via Flickr]

“I am not taking it off and I won’t take it off.”

That is what Suffolk, VA resident Kevin Collier said to a news crew when asked about his refusal to give up his expired Confederate flag license plate–and he isn’t the only one taking a stand. Collier is just one of many in the state refusing to relinquish expired tags in response to a new state law banning the plates.

Virginians are refusing to give up recalled license plates featuring the Confederate flag http://t.co/QzvFCRnpML pic.twitter.com/zRGXemIXIG

— Intl. Business Times (@IBTimes) October 19, 2015

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced plans to begin phasing out the plates in June, after a Supreme Court decision determined that specialty plates are a “form of government expression” and therefore aren’t subject to First Amendment protections.

As a result, in August approximately 1,600 people still using specialty plates with the Sons of Confederacy emblem were sent newly designed plates by the Department of Motor Vehicles, and were given until October 4 to comply before their current tags became invalid and subsequently illegal. So far only 187 plates have been returned to the DMV.

Virginia’s push to abolish plates bearing the Confederate flag was a direct result of the June shooting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina that left nine African-Americans dead. The horrific attack reignited pleas to ban the flag once and for all after Facebook photos of the 21-year-old shooter, Dylann Roof, showed him posing with Confederate flags. Roof is said to have targeted the church hoping to incite a new “civil war.”

However, despite the flag’s roots in slavery, those in favor of keeping it around maintain that it is a symbol of their heritage rather than a symbol of hate. Collier said,

It wasn’t about hate, it was a battle flag, a battle flag that we fought for. It had nothing to do with hate, and nothing to do with racism.

He then added.

I was born a 150 years too late because I would have loved to have fought for the Confederacy like my ancestors did, but at least I can fight how I can in modern times. I will fight however I can.

But, it’s hard to argue that a flag isn’t racist when one person coming to its defense claims they would have gladly fought for the side advocating for the continued enslavement of African-Americans.

According to a Charleston NBC affiliate, the DMV tried to work with the Sons of Confederate Veterans on the design of the new plate, but the organization did not respond. Now any violators choosing to still drive vehicles with the canceled plates could face a misdemeanor and a hefty fine. But is fighting for a racially offensive “heritage” really worth breaking the law? These Virginia drivers will soon be finding out.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Some VA Drivers Refuse to Give up Their Confederate Flag License Plates appeared first on Law Street.

Governor Terry McAuliffe – Law Street

Virginia Governor Doubles Down on Effort to Restore Voting Rights to Felons

Some VA Drivers Refuse to Give up Their Confederate Flag License Plates