Gov. Glenn Youngkin claims to want to help ex-felons get their lives back on track after being released from prison, but what about giving them back their voting rights?
“Today, more than 300,000 Virginians – 5 percent of the eligible voting population – are disenfranchised due to prior felony convictions, efforts that disproportionately impact people of color who also face some of our state’s highest pollution burdens. If Gov. Youngkin is serious about helping more Virginians re-enter society and become engaged and active citizens, then he should also restore voting rights to these same individuals,” said Lee Francis, deputy director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters.
The criticism comes as Youngkin is touting an executive order establishing what he is calling the Stand Tall Initiative, which his office is portraying as a “first-in-the-nation proactive, dynamic, data-driven and comprehensive across-government approach, to support reentry success and prevent recidivism.”
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Through Stand Tall, Youngkin is directing state government to assist the formerly incarcerated with employment, benefit enrollment and re-entry programs.
According to the Virginia Department of Corrections, around 10,000 adults and juveniles are released each year from incarceration into supervision in Virginia, and VADOC manages 50,000 people released from prison, who are on supervision for an average of three years.
The data from the DOC tells us that around 50 percent of those released from prison are arrested and convicted of a felony within three years of release, and more than half the state’s jail and prison population was previously incarcerated.
So, the sentiment behind what Youngkin is rolling out is well-meaning, no doubt.
“Every single returning Virginian has the opportunity to be a testimonial of hope or a recidivism statistic,” Youngkin said in a statement in a press release from his office sent out on Thursday, which also reported that the executive order rolled out on Thursday is an effort to formalize actions taken by the governor last year that have helped more than 3,000 former incarcerated Virginians find jobs and helped more than 7,000 gain health insurance.
“Our approach is proactive, measuring the achievement of key metrics for success and strategically using state resources through cross-agency partnerships. We want more testimonials of hope in Virginia and that’s what the Stand Tall Initiative is all about,” Youngkin said.
But Francis, at the League of Conservation Voters, stressed that voting rights are an important component of re-entry that the governor is overlooking.
Virginia is among a handful of states that doesn’t automatically restore voting rights to felons upon release, and leaves that decision to the sitting governor.
Youngkin, toeing the Republican Party line on the restoration of voting rights issue, has decided to use that power on a case-by-case basis, a contrast to his predecessors in the governor’s job, Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam, both Democrats, who set up restoration processes that led to 300,000 ex-felons getting their voting rights back.
“A healthy democracy and a healthy environment go hand-in-hand,” Francis said. “When Virginians are empowered to vote, they’re also empowered to fight for solutions in their community that keep them safe from pollution, that protect them from the climate crisis, and that safeguard their clean water.”
Francis said LCV is committed to fighting on behalf of a constitutional amendment that automatically restores voting rights for people released from prison.
In the meantime, “there is more this administration can and should do here and now to empower Virginians and secure a healthier democracy,” Francis said.
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Chris Graham
