Commonwealth restoration
Virginia governor’s order will help over 200,000 regain the right to vote
Recently, the timeline for the restoration of voting rights for felons has gone back and forth between government officials.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued an executive order in July that would ultimately allow previously convicted felons in the state of Virginia to vote.
REINSTATE — Terry McAuliffe took office as governor in 2014. Photo credit: Google images
According to NPR, this order would only apply to felons who have completed their terms of incarceration or parole.
The move to help felons get their rights to vote back is a noble one.
The ones who would be able to vote under the proposed law by McAuliffe would not be current felons, but instead those who have already served their sentence.
These individuals (all 206,000 of them, according to NPR) have indeed served their time and deserve restoration of a very vital right.
However a month later, the Virginia Supreme Court overturned the original order and stated that McAuliffe does not have the authority for a “blanket restoration of voting rights to the state’s felons,” according to NPR.
Instead, Gov. McAuliffe is only allowed to go over the felons separately and case-by-case.
It is suspected by some of the members of the Republican Party that the democrat Gov. McAuliffe has political intentions, assuming most felons are minorities who would vote for Hillary Clinton.
Although taking politics into question is a possibility, Gov. McAuliffe has made sure to say that this has nothing to do with it.
The importance of social justice is more of a pressing issue than a presidential race.
We as Americans have to realize the rights we have are important ones, and to lose them for life for something that you might have already served your time for is excessive.
It is not enough that many felons in the United States leave their prison cell and into the real world, with no skills or connections to make it into the real world.
A sentence starts to bleed out into more ways than just being locked up. And yes, it is true that many have to pay for their mistakes, and it is a hope that those who deserve to serve longer than others actually do.
But it is not this country’s job to further a sentence that was by law fulfilled.
It is a smart move toward trying to give back felons their lives back.
Even if the felons have to be looked at case-by-case to ensure knowledge of their crimes, those who served many years ago and who are just experiencing the freedom of voting they haven’t experience in years would finally have their rights back.
Although it may take a little longer, trying to make sure the process is constitutional and legal, the idea is something that can change the lives of many.
Those who have already served their time will not have to carry the burden of their past, but instead will have the opportunity to create a brighter and a more accomplished future, without the word ‘felon’ following them everywhere.
Hernandez is an opinion writer.