Urge Governor to Restore Voting Rights

Urge Governor to Restore Voting RIghts - April 5, 2023

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Dear ,

I am terribly concerned about Governor Youngkin's "new" policies (or lack thereof) on restoration of voting rights. Let me explain why and then ask you to join me in sending a message to the Governor.

Virginia has a long and sordid history of not letting people vote. By 1646, people who were enslaved and indentured servants were not allowed to vote. Owning or leasing land was required for voting in most years after 1656. In 1699, laws were passed forbidding women and those under age 21 from voting. In 1723, the General Assembly declared that "no free negro, mullatto or indian whatsover, hereafter have any vote at the election of burgesses, or any other election whatsoever." In 1736, the General Assembly specified that you had to have owned the land for at least a year to be eligible for voting.

When the Virginia Consitution was first passed in 1776, it said that "all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage." However, people of color and, of course, women were still excluded.

After the Fifteenth Amendment passed in 1870 guaranteeing African American suffrage, many Virginia legislators sought to get around this amendment. In 1902, the new Virginia Constitution required a poll tax and an "understanding clause," allowing a registration board to decide, on a case-by-case basis, who could and could not vote. This "understanding" was applied subjectively against Black voters. Voting rates dropped by 88,000 fewer ballots from 1901 to 1905. These barriers were not removed until the Constitution of 1971.

Virginia's expansion of prisons and felonies has an equally shameful and racist history. During reconstruction, the 12 years following the Civil War, Virginia joined other states in passing a set of laws known collectively as "black codes." These laws aimed to create more convict labor, which could be cheaply paid like slave labor. Vagrancy or being unemployed could send people, especially Black men, to prison. Misdemeanors such as petty theft were turned into felonies. Black people with convictions were leased to private companies. Again, many of these laws were applied subjectively against African Americans.

Despite Virginia's history of exclusion, we have made progress over the last few years in making it easier for people to vote and restoring people's rights to vote after serving time in prison. Virginia expanded early voting, absentee voting and same day voter registration. Even though Virginia had not yet approved the automatic restoration of rights when someone gets out of prison, the previous three Governors (one Republican and two Democrats) had streamlined the process and expanded the numbers whose rights were restored.

Virginia is only one of 11 states that continue to make it hard to regain voting rights. In DC, Maine and Vermont, no one loses their right to vote even when convicted of a felony. In 22 states, voting rights are only lost while incarcerated and then they are automatically restored. In 15 states, rights are restored automatically after parole or probation.

Virginia's history of voting rights exclusion, the excessive use of felonies to deny people's rights, and the way "subjectivity" has historically harmed African Americans set the context for concern about Governor Youngkin's decision to review each person's request individually to have voter rights restored. Although the Governor publicly stated his belief in grace and second chances, his refusal to explain the process and criteria for restoring rights is concerning. In addition, his administration stopped bi-partisan efforts in the General Assembly to change Virginia's constitution to allow automatic restoration of voting rights.

So, we are concerned. As people of faith we call on him to show our faith values of forgiveness, healing and restoration. These values should be automatic, not subjectively decided individually.

Please sign our faith letter to Governor Youngkin asking him to streamline and expedite restoration of voting rights. Click HERE to sign. Please share this letter with your friends.

With concern,

Kim Bobo
Executive Director

VICPP Events

Support Airport Workers
Wednesday, April 19th in Arlington

VICPP is supporting a public event and rally for Dulles and National Airport workers at the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority headquarters in Arlington on April 19th. At the end of the event, we will deliver the letter signed already by more than 300 people of faith calling upon the MWAA to set living wage, healthcare and paid sick day standards for these workers. Come to the event and learn more from the workers about their situation, support them, and join in delivering the letter. The event will be as follows:

What: Faith-Rooted Action for NOVA Airport Workers
When: April 19th, 11:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Where: MWAA HQ, Two Potomac Yard, 2733 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA, 22202

To register for this event, click the button below. If you haven’t yet, sign the letter calling upon the MWAA to set standards for living wages, affordable healthcare, and paid sick days by clicking HERE.

Join the James River and the Hampton Roads chapters of VICPP to push back against the dominant story of gun violence in our culture. Chapter leaders have invited bestselling author and renowned activist Shane Claiborne of RAWtools, Inc. from Philadelphia to Newport News. Together, we will decommission a gun and, using a blacksmith shop, forge it into a garden tool. The event will take place at St. John’s Church of God in Christ in Newport News, Virginia.

Shane is a self-described “champion for grace” who values helping unhoused people, protesting against wars, advocating for the end of the death penalty, and supporting methods to end gun violence. He has worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia, and heads up Red Letter Christians. Together with RAWtools founder Mike Martin, Shane wrote Beating Guns.

Click the button below to register. Click HERE to watch a promotional video about the event.

Upcoming events are posted to the web regularly. Please click the button below to check out the VICPP Events webpage.

VICPP Events

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Virginia Mercury, March 30, 2023

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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr

“Back to 1902”: Virginia Governor Revives Lifetime Ban on Voting
Glenn Youngkin ends automatic rights restoration, replacing it with an opaque system that leaves Virginia with one of the nation’s harshest policies.

Bolt, March 28, 2023

Alex Burness

Photo credit: Megan Schnabel

The pandemic kept eligible Virginians automatically on Medicaid for 3 years. That’s about to change.
People who discover that they no longer qualify for government coverage have other options, and health care advocates say they’re here to help.

Cardinal News, March 31, 2023

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The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy advocates racial, social, and economic justice in Virginia’s policies and practices through education, prayer, and action.