RICHMOND, Va. -- The Virginia NAACP called on Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to make the criteria for restoration of rights for Virginians returning from a prison sentence clearer. The administration said they are following the law and that the organization has yet to meet with them directly.
Virginia is one of eleven states where civil rights are not automatically restored to someone who served time for a felony once they have completed their sentence or have been paroled and paid their fines. In fact, under Virginia law, the governor has the sole discretion to restore those rights.
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While the previous administrations streamlined the restoration process, the Virginia NAACP said Youngkin's process lacks clarity on which applications are denied and why.
"It is a matter of doing what is right," Virginia NAACP President Robert Barnette said. "Whether a Virginia citizen has their voting rights restored cannot depend on the governor’s whim.”
The organization provided hundreds of pages of documents they obtained from the administration through a records request regarding how the process works. They include form applications provided to returning citizens and form approval-denial letters, but not specific criteria on how those application are judged.
The concern, they argue, is that since people of color make up a disproportionate number of those incarcerated there is the potential for discrimination.
"This process is not transparent; it is opaque. That’s a problem for those citizens have served their time and come back to society and are seeking their full restorative rights," said Jay Jones, an attorney representing the organization. “Previous administrations have been quite transparent; they’ve posted guideline and requirements and criteria online. That doesn’t exist under this administration, and that is really the core of the problem.”
Virginia's Secretary of the Commonwealth, who processes rights restoration applications, has a website with resources available to returning citizens seeking to have their rights restored, which contains FAQs and links to begin the process.
Kay Coles James, Youngkin's Secretary of the Commonwealth, sent a letter to the Virginia NAACP this week that states the organization has not met with her personally to discuss the process, despite multiple invitations. The letter was obtained by CBS 6 and first reported by the Associated Press.
James said the process is in no way is discriminatory.
“You have implied that determinations are made on race. Nowhere in the application process is there a reference to the race, religion, or ethnicity," James wrote.
The letter also explains — in part — how Youngkin judges each application.
“He will be less likely to quickly restore the voting rights of anyone who used a firearm in the commission of a crime, and that, generally speaking, but not always, he will work to restore the voting rights of those who committed nonviolent crimes," James wrote.
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Although he was not available to comment Tuesday, Youngkin spoke to CBS 6 last month about the process and said his team is following the law.
"What we’ve been doing is following the law," Youngkin said at an event for veterans last month. "When they are coming out of their correctional facility, they in fact are handed the material and sign an understanding. They just need to send it to us, so we can follow our constitutional responsibilities and restore their rights where appropriate.”
Ryan Snow with the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights said other governors found ways within the law the streamline the process. He said the original debate on the rights restoration provision in Virginia's 1902 Constitution centered around keeping Black Virginians from voting.
"It's simply not the case that he is required to do this process. He chose to do this process," said Snow. "It's 2023. Gov. Youngkin has taken us back to 1902. He can't hide behind the Constitution, and to the extent that he wants to, he's dealing with a white-supremacy provision."
The Virginia NAACP wants the administration to make the criteria for judging applications publicly available, among other requests.
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