Virginia's Governor Just Gave 206,000 People The Right To Vote 22APR16

An inmate leans out the bars of his cell in a one–-prisoner-per-cell block in downtown Los Angeles.

Brian Vander Brug/LA Times via Getty ImagesTHIS is a huge victory for human rights and civil liberties in Virginia! Thank you Gov McAuliffe D VA for your courageous stand for these disenfranchised citizens. NOW it is up to those Virginians who's voting rights have been restored to get registered to vote on line because DEMOCRACY IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT! 

Upcoming Elections

2016 Presidential Preference Primary: Tuesday, March 1

• Voter Registration Deadline: Monday, February 8

2016 Congressional/State Primary: Tuesday, June 14

• Voter Registration Deadline: Monday, May 23

2016 General Election: Tuesday, November 8

• Voter Registration Deadline: Monday, October 17

For more information, visit the Virginia State Board of Elections website.

- See more at: http://www.rockthevote.com/get-informed/elections/state/virginia.html#sthash.TyuZByu9.dpufFrom +NPR and +rockthevote .....

Virginia's Governor Just Gave 206,000 People The Right To Vote

Two hundred six thousand Virginians will newly have the right to vote this year. That's according to the office of Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who signed a bill on Friday that would allow felons who had completed their sentences to vote.

In addition to granting voting rights, the executive order will also allow released felons to run for office, serve on a jury, and serve as notaries public, the governor's office said in a release. It will apply to any felon who "completed his or her sentence and all other requirements" like parole or probation, as of April 22, the office said. The governor also plans to issue additional monthly orders to grant voting rights to future released felons.

"Too often in both our distant and recent history, politicians have used their authority to restrict people's ability to participate in our democracy," McAuliffe said in a statement. "Today we are reversing that disturbing trend and restoring the rights of more than 200,000 of our fellow Virginians who work, raise families and pay taxes in every corner of our Commonwealth."

As of 2010, the most recent year for which data are available, Virginia had one of the highest levels in the nation of people who could not vote because of felony convictions: 7.3 percent, according to the U.S. Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that advocates for sentencing reforms.

However, since then, several thousand felons have already been added to voter rolls. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell in 2013 issued an executive order making it easier for nonviolent felons to regain their voting rights. McAuliffe's office also estimates that he had restored voting rights to an additional 18,000 people prior to today's move.

Where laws stand in your state

State laws differ on whether felons can and cannot vote. In only two states, Maine and Vermont, all felons — whether in prison or not — can vote. And in three — Iowa, Kentucky and Florida — no one who has been convicted of a felony can vote, according to the ACLU.

Altogether, around 2.5 percent (or 1 in 40) of Americans were disenfranchised as of 2010, according to the Sentencing Project. And that group is disproportionately African-American — by the same data, more than three times the share of blacks (7.7 percent, or around 1 in 13) couldn't vote. 

Felon Voting Rights Laws Nationwide

Florida, Iowa, and Kentucky have the strictest felon voting laws in the nation, permanently barring people convicted of a felony from ever voting again, according to the ACLU. Maine and Vermont, meanwhile, allow felons to vote, regardless of whether they’re in prison or not. The rest of the states have laws of varying restrictiveness.

Here's where the laws stand in states nationwide:

Here's how many voting-age people in each state were not able to vote, as of 2010, the latest year for which data are available. The organization says it hopes to release new data later this year.

Felony Disenfranchisement By State

This map shows the share of each state’s voting-age population that is not allowed to vote because of laws governing whether \felons are allowed to vote, according to estimates from the Sentencing Project. Florida leads the nation, with an estimated more than 1 in 10 voting-age residents unable to vote as of 2010, the latest year for which data were available.

The political battle over disenfranchisement

The felon disenfranchisement debate isn't just a fight over who should and should not get to choose elected officials; it also has potentially heavy political implications.

Republican critics are painting McAuliffe's action as a political move in a swing state that could be consequential in this year's presidential election.

"I am not surprised by the lengths to which he is willing to go to deliver Virginia to Hillary Clinton in November," Virginia House Speaker Bill Howell wrote in a statement. McAuliffe is a former DNC chairman and also served as chairman of Clinton's 2008 run for the presidency.

This is by no means the first time ex-offenders' voting rights have come up in a presidential election. After the 2000 presidential election, for example, some arguedthat the state's laws barring felons from voting were what allowed George W. Bush to win the state and, therefore, the election.

The issue of felon disenfranchisement also arose on the campaign trail this cycle, when in December Ted Cruz told radio host Hugh Hewitt that Democrats "go in and fight to give the right to vote to convicted felons. Why? Because the Democrats know convicted felons tend to vote Democrat."

A 2014 study did show that in a few states that were surveyed, released felons were more likely to register as Democrats than Republicans (as reported by PolitiFact). However, the study covered only three states and did not include the many felons who didn't register to vote, PolitiFact also reported.

The politics of enfranchisement extend well beyond the topic of felons. Cruz has also accused Democrats of wanting to give citizenship to immigrants in the country illegally because, he said, those immigrants would vote Democratic. And Ohio Gov. John Kasich this week said he opposed D.C. statehood because "that's just more votes in the Democratic Party."

The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. We must act now. 27JUN13

IN response to the supreme court's ruling on the 1965 Voting Rights Act progressive groups are organizing for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the right to vote for every citizen, no matter what state you live in. This from Credo, and if you agree with it please click the link and sign on as a citizen sponsor, and please share this with others. And for more on this see my earlier post 

Bob Cesca - Supreme Court Helps the GOP Revive the Era of Jim Crow 27JUN13 http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/bob-cesca-supreme-court-helps-gop.html

Yesterday was a great day for those of us who support marriage equality. But we can't lose sight of the Supreme Court's shameful decision to accelerate voter suppression by gutting the Voting Rights Act. Please read the e-mail below and take action.

The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. We must act now.

Become a citizen co-sponsor: "I support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantees the freedom to vote for all."

Just days ago, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision in the case of Shelby County v. Holder1 that destroyed the Voting Rights Act, ending 40 years of protection for minorities against discriminatory and unfair attempts to limit voting based on one's race.2 It's a shameful decision, and after hearing oral arguments, it sadly comes as no surprise. During the oral arguments in this case, Justice Scalia described the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act as "the perpetuation of a racial entitlement," and other justices questioned whether racial discrimination even still exists. Now that the Voting Rights Act has been gutted, we must act to protect the rights of everyone to vote. That’s why there must be a constitutional amendment that guarantees the freedom to vote for every citizen, regardless of race or where they live. And we’re joining with our friends at Color of Change to help make that happen. Join the movement to pass a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every citizen. Click here to automatically add your name as a citizen co-sponsor. While the Supreme Court did not invalidate Section 5, a key part of the Voting Rights Act, it threw out the basic formula that has been used practically since the bill's passage in 1965 to determine where the Justice Department must provide approval before local election rules that would suppress the votes of African American and Latino citizens can be put into effect. While voter suppression rules can still be challenged by the Department of Justice after the fact, this will most likely happen too late to prevent minority voters from being blocked from the polls. The court's decision effectively guts the Voting Rights Act, rendering it useless until we elect a Congress willing to update this formula — which could take years. For decades the Voting Rights Act protected voters in pockets of the country with a history of racially discriminatory voting practices. Just this past election, it allowed the Justice Department to block attempts by Texas, South Carolina and Florida to implement discriminatory voting rules. For decades, the Voting Rights Act has helped narrow the gap that exists between civic participation rates of white voters and voters from communities of color. But now, right-wing efforts to make it harder for African Americans and Latino citizens to vote will be completely unfettered. With so many state legislatures and governorships held by these right-wing extremists, efforts to block voting access will be widespread, targeted and coordinated. But a constitutional amendment would forever enshrine the right to equal and protected access to the vote and ensure that we never again come face-to-face with the type of voter suppression that we’ll surely see in the next election, as the ramifications of this court decision are felt. Join the movement to pass a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every citizen. Click here to automatically add your name as a citizen co-sponsor. For African Americans, voting has never been a “racial entitlement.” It is a right that was earned through extraordinary sacrifice. The Voting Rights Act was the result of decades of hard work, of advocacy, of protests and marches and courage before fire hoses and police dogs. It was one of the crowning achievements of a generation. Now we can put those protections back in place and ensure that the right to vote is guaranteed by the highest law of the land. While the road to passing a constitutional amendment for the freedom to vote is long and paved with obstacles, if we join together with our allies, we can make it happen. Join the movement to pass a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every citizen. Click the link below to automatically add your name as a citizen co-sponsor: http://act.credoaction.com/go/974?t=6&akid=8248.179403.-BqL33 Thank you for standing up for the right to vote. Becky Bond, Political Director CREDO Action from Working Assets Learn more about this campaign 1. Lyle Denniston, "Voting rights case: Made simple," SCOTUSblog, February 8th, 2013. 2. Mark Sherman, "High Court Voids Key Part of Voting Rights Act." Associated Press, June 25, 2013