Kaine pushes to restore voting rights

Local, National, Politics, Virginia 1 Minute

Earlier this year, I put out my legislative agenda and included the restoration of voting rights as one of the five items that I would like to see the General Assembly accomplish. Unfortunately, none of the bills passed. In the past few weeks, though, I became aware of a push to get nonviolent felons to request that their rights be restored, with the effort being led by Governor Tim Kaine. The quiet push has now made it to the pages of The Washington Post:

Earlier this year, Kaine (D) promised that his administration would expedite a review of applications from nonviolent felons who submit their papers by Aug. 1.

I have to admit: my initial response to hearing about this was quite cynical. Just where was the Governor when bills were being heard in the GA this past session? And why now? I think I know the answer to both questions.

I firmly believe that nonviolent felons should have a path to having their voting rights restored. Just as firmly, I don’t think they should be a political football in the process. Had the governor gotten behind the efforts earlier, I wouldn’t question his motives now. But he didn’t and I do.

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14 thoughts on “Kaine pushes to restore voting rights”

  3. Maybe he’s doing it because it’s the right thing to do.
    Judging by some of McCain’s friends, felons belong to both parties.

  5. Really Mouse? Do you have some empirical evidence to back that up?
    I didn’t think so.
    How do you propose to prove this, especially in states where there is not registration by party? Are you taking into account “White collar crime”? See, it’s easy to make assumptions..
    Just another urban myth spread again and again with nothing to substantiate.

  7. “Are you taking into account ‘White collar crime’?”

    According to the FBI, fraud, embezzlement, and forgery accounted for less than 3.4% of all arrests in the 1997-1999 study. Throw in bad check writing (not a felony) and a few others, and “white collar crime” is still under 10% of the total.

    So even if ALL of the white-collar criminals voted Republican, if the rest are a 56-44 split, Democrats to Republicans, then Democrats win the felon vote. As it is, that split is more likely in the 80-20 range.

  8. Mouse, I said “Empirical” evidence.
    A newspaper article is far from a peer-reviewed journal article.
    And what does LA have to do with the assumption that if one is a felon, he/she is a Democrat?

    Like I said, this is an urban legend.

  9. Well, it is certain that the dead give more to Democrats than to Republicans.

    It is the Northwestern article that links felons to democrats, not the article about LA.

  10. You can also go here:

    [A] number of studies show that when felons do vote, unlawfully or otherwise, they tend to vote Democrat. A study by sociologists Christopher Uggen of the University of Minnesota and Jeff Manza of Northwestern showed that felons voted for Democrats at a rate approaching 70 percent. In fact, this estimate may be low. In Florida 2000, in some counties more than 80 percent of the felons who voted illegally were registered Democrats.

  14. The inscription on John Carter Brown Library Americus reads: “Speak to the past and it shall teach thee.” For over 150 years the Republican Party was the “civil rights” party overcoming formidible odds of the Democratic Party to pass the 13th, 14th, 15th and 19th Amendments to the Constitution.

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