Virginia says governor weighs circumstances of crimes in deciding on restoring felons’ voting rights

By SARAH RANKIN and DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration says that as he weighs whether to restore the civil rights of convicted felons who have served their time, he is considering at least some of the circumstances of their crimes. Some of the factors were outlined in a Monday letter sent by an administration official to the Virginia NAACP. The letter says the governor is “less likely to quickly restore the voting rights of anyone who used a firearm in the commission of a crime.” And it says he will generally but not always work to restore the voting rights of nonviolent offenders. Youngkin’s handling of the process has been under scrutiny for months since his administration acknowledged making changes to the way the system ran under his predecessors.