RICHMOND, Va. -- A Richmond judge sided with Governor Glenn Youngkin's office in a lawsuit filed by the Virginia State Conference NAACP.
The lawsuit was seeking more information on how the governor's office makes decisions on voting rights restoration applications for returning citizens.
Under Virginia law, anyone convicted of a felony is stripped of their voting rights and cannot get them back after serving their sentence without action from the governor's office.
Advocates said Virginia is the only state in the nation where this is the case.
Previous governors from both parties streamlined the restoration process, but Youngkin's team goes about it on a case-by-case basis, citing state law that gives the governor sole discretion.
A Virginia Supreme Court ruling from 2016 also gives Youngkin discretion after a failed attempt by then-Governor McAuliffe to make the process automatic.
Earlier in the year, the Virginia NAACP filed a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) seeking documents related to how the governor's office and the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who assists in the process, approve or deny applications.
Every returning citizen seeking to have their rights restored must apply with the governor's office and send them information to support their case.
At issue Tuesday was a database that houses all that application information used by the governor in his decision-making process.
The Virginia NAACP said despite receiving hundreds of pages of documents via their FOIA request, none of them clearly laid out which applications were denied or approved and why.
Their attorneys argued access to the database should be granted since other state agencies and workers feed information into it, and that it would contain information on how the governor's office goes about the approval/denial process.
Attorneys for the governor and Richard Cullen, counselor to the governor, said the database only exists to house the information provided by applicants to aid the governor in his deliberate decision-making process on each application.
They argued that the governor is simply following the legal standard and the database should be exempt from a records request because they are the governor's working papers.
Beyond that, Youngkin's attorneys said releasing the database would put in peril the sensitive information provided by those returning citizens seeking to get their voting rights back.
In the end, Judge Reilly Marchant ruled in favor of the governor's office and said the evidence is clear the restoration application database exists for the sole purpose of helping the governor make decisions and qualifies as working papers.
Following the hearing, Cullen declined to comment other than to say the governor's office agrees with the decision.
Virginia NAACP officials said the ruling was a "technical issue" and planned to continue pressing for more details on how the restoration process plays out under the Youngkin administration.
"There’s a shroud of secrecy, and when we’re confronted with secrecy we’re concerned there is something that is hidden that may be inequitable. That is why we’re fighting so hard.," said Rev. Cozy Bailey, president of the Virginia State Conference NACCP.
There is a legislative effort underway to change the state Constitution to make the restoration of voting rights automatic after someone serves their time. Rev. Bailey said the NAACP supports that effort.
"The entirety of the secret process this governor has instituted speaks to the need for that," he said.
Amending Virginia's Constitution requires the General Assembly to pass legislation two consecutive years, with a House of Delegates election in between, before the issue then goes to a statewide voter referendum. The earliest that process could play out is 2026.
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