Become a Restore Our Vote Activist!

More than 300,000 Virginians are unable to vote due to the state's felon disenfranchisement law.

Sample Letter to the Editor

The following is a sample letter to the editor that you can submit to your local newspaper to help advocate for reform of Virginia's felon disenfranchisement law. This letter is about 220 words in length. This letter is provided as an example; please feel free to submit a letter in your own words. We would like to know if your letter gets published -- please contact us at vote@restoreourvote.org.

Dear Editor:

The Virginia General Assembly is seriously considering legislation to reform Virginia's shameful and unfair law that permanently disenfranchises all former felons.  Most people, it seems, haven't even heard of this antiquated constitutional provision that prevents about 300,000 Virginia residents from voting.

Felon disenfranchisement dates back to the Jim Crow era when it, poll taxes and literacy tests were used to keep minority voters out of polling places.  Once widespread throughout the U.S., harsh felon disfranchisement laws slowly died out over the course of the 20th Century.  Now, only Virginia and Kentucky still permanently disfranchise all persons convicted of a felony, requiring an individual act of the governor to restore voting rights. 

Most of the disenfranchised persons in Virginia are productive, tax-paying members of our society.  Not only do they deserve the right to vote now that they have repaid their debt to society, but studies indicate that formerly incarcerated persons who vote are about half as likely to commit another crime as those who don’t. 

We must all now urge legislators to support bills that amend the Virginia Constitution to either automatically restore voting rights or at the very least, grant the General Assembly the power to pass laws to restore rights. The responsibility to reinstate the fundamental right to vote in our democracy should not rest solely with one person.

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