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January 19, 2006
VA: Warner Doesn't Take Opportunity to Allow People with Felony Convictions to Vote
Felons fail to get voting rights back
BY MICHAEL HARDY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Despite the pleas of civil-rights groups, Gov. Mark R. Warner will not restore the voting rights of tens of thousands of released felons before he leaves office Saturday, sources said.
"He's not going to act on it," one official said yesterday.
Warner has restored the voting privileges of 3,414 felons who petitioned him after they completed their prison terms and post-release conditions.
Gov.-elect Timothy M. Kaine, who succeeds Warner, supports the governor and would not grant such blanket restorations, a spokesman said yesterday.
The civil-rights organizations, led by the Washington-based Advancement Project, said it was essential to end the Jim Crow-era disenfranchisement of felons after they had served their punishments.
Warner "has widespread support to put an end to this undemocratic and unjust practice," said Eddie Hailes, senior attorney with the project. "A principled stand of restoring rights is simply the right thing for Governor Warner to do."
The organization and others recently asked Warner to issue an executive order that would restore the voting rights of an estimated 243,000 Virginians.
Ellen Qualls, Warner's chief spokesman, declined to comment on what Warner will do but she quarreled with the estimates of the number of freed felons who would be affected by the unlikely gubernatorial action.
She also pointed out that Warner had restored the rights of more felons, mostly nonviolent individuals, than any other governor in history. He also has streamlined the process for a released prisoner to apply for voting rights.
"The governor has acted on every petition that has come to him and attempted to make decisions in a rational way," Qualls said. She said he had rejected the petitions of 195 freed felons.
Kevin Hall, Kaine's press secretary, said the governor-elect supports Warner's actions.
"Governor Warner's reforms are reasonable and the governor-elect intends to continue the same practice," Hall said.
Asked about the requests, Hall said Kaine would not grant such across-the-board restorations. Among the other groups asking for the restoration are the state and national branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Michigan Congressional Black Caucus.
Contact staff writer Michael Hardy at mhardy@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6810.
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Posted by lois at January 19, 2006 03:06 PM