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R-15-29 A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE ADOPTION OF A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROVIDING FOR THE AUTOMATIC RESTORATION OF THE VOTING RIGHTS OF FELONS UPON RELEASE FROM INCARCERATION. WHEREAS, Article II, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution provides that no person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote unless his rights have been restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority; and WHEREAS, this language has been construed to mean that the Virginia General Assembly has no authority to establish by statute any conditions or procedures under which civil rights, including the right to vote, can be restored to convicted felons; and WHEREAS, Virginia's limitation on the restoration of the voting rights of felons is among the most restrictive in the nation; and WHEREAS, this limitation is inextricably linked to post-Reconstruction discrimination, including through the Virginia Constitution of 1902, which expanded restrictions on voting by those with criminal convictions for the express purpose of disenfranchising African Americans; and WHEREAS, the limitation continues to have a substantial discriminatory impact today, as evidenced by a study conducted by The Sentencing Project which found that as of December 2010 twenty percent of all adult African Americans in Virginia did not have the right to vote; and WHEREAS, voting is a fundamental civic right and responsibility, and the disenfranchisement of felons is contrary to the goal of re-integrating those who have served their time into society as productive citizens; and WHEREAS, Virginia's recent governors, Democrat and Republican alike, have recognized the inherent injustice of the broad limitation in the Constitution and have issued Executive Orders attempting to ease the restrictions on the restoration of rights; and WHEREAS, while the Executive Orders constitute progress, ex-felons convicted of certain categories of crimes remain subject to a multi-year waiting period after release and an arduous application process if they seek to have their rights restored; and WHEREAS, Executive Orders are further revocable by subsequent governors and are insufficient guarantors of the rights they create; and WHEREAS, those who have paid their debt to society by serving their allocated prison time ought, upon release, to have all of the rights of any other citizen; and WHEREAS, it is therefore imperative that Article II, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution be amended to provide for the automatic restoration of voting rights upon a