Virginia felony voting errors collide with Question 3
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Virginians are deciding whether to overhaul felony voting rights as the state cleans up hundreds of voter registrations wrongly denied or canceled over felony records — including dozens in the Richmond area.
Why it matters: It's still unclear how many eligible voters couldn't cast ballots in Virginia's August primary because of the errors, or whether any have encountered problems during early voting.
The big picture: The issue is surfacing as voters decide on Question 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that would automatically restore voting rights to people with felony convictions after they leave prison.
- Currently, a felony conviction strips voting rights from Virginians unless the governor restores them.
Yes, but: In January, a federal judge ruled that an 1870 federal law bars Virginia from doing this over most felony convictions.
- State officials initially interpreted the ruling to mean almost 300 modern-day crimes could still cost someone their voting rights.
- The judge rejected that approach in August. Now murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter are the only disqualifying convictions for people who aren't incarcerated, per the state.
- The ruling prompted Virginia to notify roughly 235,000 people with past felony convictions that they're eligible to register, reported VPM.
What went wrong: Under that broader interpretation, Virginia wrongly denied or canceled up to 998 voter registrations, according to VPM.
- At least 57 were in the Richmond region: 37 in Richmond, 15 in Henrico and five in Hanover.
Zoom in: In Hanover, all five were rejected voter applications, not cancellations of existing voters, county registrar Dave Nichols told Axios.
- None have re-registered since the state notified them that their status changed, per Nichols.
- Henrico registrar Mark Coakley said his office couldn't determine how many involved existing voters or whether any tried to vote, but anyone flagged could have cast a provisional ballot while officials investigated.
Meanwhile: A separate, now-fixed error in Chesterfield last month briefly canceled a resident's registration after she was wrongly flagged as having a felony conviction, reported WWBT.
- Chesterfield told Axios it isn't aware of any additional affected voters or anyone who missed the Aug. 4 primary.
- But the county noted it lacks access to the state's full breakdown of cases and referred those questions to the state.
Richmond's registrar and Virginia's elections department didn't immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Flashback: Virginia has struggled with erroneous felony removals before.
- In 2023, the state reinstated nearly 3,400 voters after probation violations were mistakenly reported as new felony convictions, per the elections department.
- About 200 were Richmonders, reported the AP.
What we're watching: The state's latest annual voter roll maintenance report detailing its felony-related removals was due Oct. 1 but remained unpublished as of Monday.