Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe restored 200,000 returning citizens voting rights in April of this year. Then the VA Supreme Court overturned that. So now McAuliffe is individually reinstating voting rights for returning citizens.
Cue Virginia Senate Majority leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment.
He has proposed a constitutional amendment, that if passed, would permanently silence returning citizens voices if their felony is considered "violent". And the General Assembly would be deciding what is "violent". This should go really well for returning citizens. Some members of the General Assembly consider drug charges a violent offense.
Sac o' racism Tommy Norment says, "this amendment would guarantee those who have their right to vote restored are truly deserving of that second chance."
Thanks Tommy. That quote makes you "truly deserving" of a knuckle sandwich. And that is the nicest way I can type out my feelings about you and that statement.
So here is why this is a trap. The constitutional amendment would automatically restore voting rights for all “nonviolent” returning citizens. I don't think I need to explain the trap any further. If clarification is needed let me know in the comments.
Governor McAuliffe explains that this ballot initiative "unmasks Republican leaders' true motive, which is to permanently disenfranchise men and women and condemn them to a lifetime as outcasts from our Commonwealth." In a written statement he explains that the initiative is being touted as an easing of voting restrictions, but its details "expose that claim as a deliberate falsehood."
If we continue to accept this violent vs non violent narrative this scenario is going to be the norm as we fight for the rights of returning citizens. It will be the achilles heel of the movement if we don't fight for the rights of ALL returning citizens.
The half measures have to stop. All citizens deserve the right to vote. Until that is our line in the sand it will always be one step forward and two steps backward for our democracy.
Accepting the premise that incarcerated citizens shouldn't be able to vote is what makes way for things like prison gerrymandering. Yep, I am going there. No citizen should lose the right to vote. Ever.
Any other position is, you guessed it, a trap.