Become a Restore Our Vote Activist!

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

Talking Points:
What You Should Know About Felon Disfranchisement in Virginia

• Individuals with felony convictions are permanently barred from voting in Virginia, even after fully completing their sentences. Under Virginia's Constitution, voting rights may be restored only by an act of the Governor.



• Virginia and Kentucky are the only two states in the nation that permanently disfranchise all felons. All other states automatically restore voting rights for most or all felons once they have completed their sentences.


• Approximately 300,000 Virginia residents cannot vote due to a felony conviction, even thought most have fully paid their debt to society and are now productive members of their communities.


• Felon disfranchisement is a racially discriminatory policy leftover from the Jim Crow Era. Literacy tests, polls taxes, and felon disfranchisement laws were adopted to prevent African Americans from voting. The first two have been barred by federal law, and nearly every state has repealed its felon disfranchisement law. In Virginia, more than half of the disfranchised persons are African American.


• Restoring voting rights reduces crime. Research shows that individuals who vote after completing their sentences are half as likely to commit another crime as those who do not vote.*


• Most Virginia voters-- three out of four-- favor restoring voting rights to individuals who have been convicted of a felony once they have completed all conditions of their punishment. **

* "Voting and Subsequent Crime and Arrest," Columbia Human Rights Law Review (2005), volume 36 issue 1, p. 193-216.

** Survey conducted by Lake Research Partners, January 2006.