WASHINGTON — Three days after re-restoring the voting rights of 13,000 felons who were stripped of those rights by a Virginia Supreme Court decision, Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe said he is working to restore the voting rights of all 206,000 felons included in his blanket rights restoration in April.
However, McAuliffe won’t hazard a guess on how many will be restored by Election Day, Nov. 8.
On Richmond radio station WRVA, McAuliffe declined to project when rights would be restored to felons who have competed their sentences.
Republican opponents have said McAuliffe’s mass restoration was a veiled attempt to add Democratic voters to the rolls ahead of November’s presidential elections.
“We’re walking through the process; I’m not going to put a timetable on it,” said McAuliffe. “I’m committed to getting these people their rights back, and we’re going to do it in an orderly fashion, as the Supreme Court said I needed to do it.”
On July 22, Virginia’s highest court struck down McAuliffe’s executive order, and ordered registrars to strike the names of any felons who registered to vote under it. The court said voting rights needed to be restored on case-by-case basis.
On WRVA, McAuliffe said 40 other states had already instituted similar plans to restore the voting rights of felons.
“They made a mistake; they’ve paid their price; they’re back in society; they’re going to our churches, our grocery stores, and they’re paying their taxes,” said McAuliffe.
McAuliffe dismissed claims he is attempting to overstep his authority.
“Look, I’m not giving gun rights back; I’m not reducing sentences,” said McAuliffe. “You (felons who have completed their sentences and probation) are back in society, you’ve paid your price, determined by a judge and jury.”
Republican leaders who had successfully sued over McAuliffe’s mass restoration order are considering whether to challenge Monday’s re-restoration methods.
