 Meet Frank Anderson, at left marching in the Lorton 4th of July parade. If you're a Northern Virginia Democrat, look for him perched behind the PA system at any given rally. He's knocked on thousands of doors and made thousands of phone calls. I've never met anyone who works so hard for the causes he believes in, but can't vote for.
That's right, Frank can't vote. You wouldn't know it by looking, but years ago, he was convicted of burglary and served his time in prison. Since he lives in Virginia, one of the two states that constitutionally bans felons from voting, he received a lifetime sentence of disenfranchisement in addition to the time he served.
Since then, Frank has turned his life around in a dramatic fashion, and is enrolled with me at George Mason University to finish his degree. We both ended up in the same lecture class last semester, and he almost certainly works harder than this slacker. The only thing marring his record is a speeding ticket.
The only way to have your rights restored in Virginia is to petition the Governor. For years, applications languished under Republican governors, until Mark Warner took office in 2001 and dramatically streamlined the process, restoring the rights of 3,486 felons--more than the four governors before him combined. His successor, Tim Kaine, has restored the rights of over 4,000 felons from across the spectrum of crimes, from simple burglary to murderers. One of them is not Frank Anderson. Why? The Secretary of the Commonwealth's office sent him an email:
However, one requirement is that applicants have no convictions for violations of the law for the three or five years (depending upon the nature of the felony) immediately prior to applying for restoration of rights. This includes moving violations, such as speeding.
I am sorry your record did not permit your rights to be restored and I encourage you to apply again when time and the absence of recent convictions allows your record to show no blemishes for the requisite waiting period.
Even attempts to restore rights to nonviolent offenders only, which passed the Senate with bipartisan support in the 2009 session (SJ273) met its death in House P&E.
Let's set aside for a moment the travesty that is a blanket ban on felons and appreciate the absurdity of this situation. Convicted murderers and rapists who have been released and not gotten caught speeding can get their voting rights restored just fine--but a nonviolent felon long past his jail days with one moving violation can't?
With a Republican governor incoming and a Republican House of Delegates unwilling to overturn the constitutional ban, only Governor Tim Kaine can restore the rights of Frank Anderson. If Virginia Democrats can't help one of their own, who says they can help the rest of the state?
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