<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Governor Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) stated on Friday that her administration is investigating the possibility that voting rights were restored for deceased individuals when reinstating voting rights for Virginians with prior felony convictions.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In July, Spanberger announced that her office restored voting rights for 66,085 previous felons in Virginia. The state's constitution automatically and permanently strips voting rights from all convicted felons, but the sitting governor has the authority to restore them individually after a person completes their prison sentence.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Spanberger was questioned about reports indicating that her actions may have automatically restored voting rights for deceased felons. She did not deny these reports and mentioned that her office is investigating cases where this seems to have occurred.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“We’re certainly looking into that possibility and recognizing that there has been a focus on a number of cases where that appears to be the case,” Spanberger said.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">She explained that the databases tracking individuals without voting rights may not indicate whether a person has died.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“The reality of the challenge exists in all of the different databases where there might be individuals who have been listed as someone who had their rights taken because of their felony conviction, and those same databases would not necessarily have the reporting that that person had passed away,” Spanberger said.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Spanberger emphasized that even if a deceased individual’s voting rights were restored, it does not mean they are registered to vote. She also noted that it is a felony to cast a ballot on behalf of someone else, whether living or deceased.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Spanberger’s decision to restore voting rights en masse for convicted felons contrasts with former Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s approach, who restored the voting rights of fewer than 10,000 felons during his tenure and required individuals to apply for restoration after their release from prison.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The news regarding the potential restoration of voting rights for deceased felons comes ahead of a November referendum in Virginia, where voters will decide whether to support a constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting rights to felons upon their release from prison.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A report by Fox News referenced a Facebook post from a Virginian named Howard Lambert, who claimed that Spanberger sent a letter to his daughter restoring her voting rights for the midterm elections, despite her having passed away two years ago.</p>