Youngkin says nearly all eligible voters reinstated
Roughly 3,400 had been removed; governor orders inquiry
RICHMOND — Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration identified nearly 3,400 voters who were improperly removed from the state’s rolls due to probation violations — a greater number than previously acknowledged — and said Friday that local registrars have reinstated the vast majority.
The Republican governor’s administration first disclosed the problem this month following reporting from VPM News about concerns raised by civil rights advocates over improper voter removals. The error, which the administration has blamed on a data-sharing issue that misclassified probation violations as new felonies, has sparked criticism from Democrats, including a call from the state’s Democratic congressional delegation for a Department of Justice investigation.
The full scope of the problem had been unclear until the Department of Elections’ announcement Friday — less than two weeks before Election Day.
A department spokeswoman, Andrea Gaines, acknowledged in mid-October that at least 275 misclassified voters had been identified, but had since declined to answer questions about the latest available figures.
At the same time, inquiries made to local registrars’ offices by the Associated Press and other news outlets made clear the total surpassed 275.
For instance, in Richmond — which has a population of about 230,000 — about 200 affected voters have been reinstated, according to Keith Balmer, the city’s general registrar.
Eric Olsen, the director of elections and general registrar for Prince William County, said last week by email that 87 voters had been reinstated. The number had risen to 107, he said Friday.
The Department of Elections said Friday all affected voters have been notified by mail.
“As of today, all but approximately 100 of these records have been processed by general registrars. ELECT staff continues to check in with localities to ensure each record is reinstated,” the department said in a news release.
Virginia also offers sameday voter registration, meaning affected individuals would have the opportunity to remedy the situation and cast a provisional ballot in early voting or on Election Day.
It’s not clear whether the U.S. Department of Justice will investigate. A DOJ spokeswoman who has previously acknowledged receipt of the congressional delegation’s request declined further comment Friday.
But the governor has asked the state’s government watchdog agency to investigate, according to a letter from Lyn McDermid, Youngkin’s secretary of administration, to the executive director of the ACLU of Virginia.
The ACLU of Virginia previously requested an “immediate investigation and remediation” of the “unlawful” voter removals.
McDermid said in a letter dated Tuesday that Youngkin had asked the Office of the State Inspector General to immediately investigate and report on the “causes and circumstances” around the removals.
The governor also asked OSIG to look into “preliminary findings” that in previous decades, thousands of Virginians may have been permitted to remain on the rolls despite being convicted of a new felony.
In Virginia, a felony conviction automatically results in the loss of a person’s civil rights, such as the right to vote, serve on a jury, run for office and carry a firearm. The governor has the sole discretion to restore those civil rights, apart from firearm rights, which can be restored by a court.
The department said in an annual report this year that it had discovered 10,558 people who were convicted of a felony, had their rights restored and then were convicted of another felony, but were not subsequently removed from the list.