Voting Rights Restoration for Individuals with Past Criminal Convictions in Va.

• In Event: Restoration and Suppression: The Contemporary Frontiers of Voting Rights

Abstract

Virginia had one of the most restrictive felon disenfranchisement laws in the country; a criminal conviction resulted in lifetime disenfranchisement. That legal landscape changed—dramatically—in 2016, when the Virginia Governor issued an order restoring voting rights to those who have completed their sentence and post-conviction supervision. This paper assesses the likely impact of that order, in the hopes of learning what might affect the success of similar rights restoration regimes increasing on the rise across the country.

Author

• Emily Zhang, Stanford University