Lawsuit over Virginia's felon voting ban gains steam with new legal filings

In a high-stakes voting rights battle with roots in the Reconstruction era, civil rights groups on Friday filed two new motions in a federal lawsuit that could restore voting rights to thousands of Virginians with felony convictions.

Announced Monday, the filings by the ACLU of Virginia, Protect Democracy and the law firm WilmerHale seek summary judgment in the case and class-action status on behalf of the more than 300,000 Virginians who they say remain disenfranchised under a state constitutional provision. The plaintiffs argue Virginia is violating a 150-year-old federal law — the Virginia Readmission Act of 1870 — which governed the state’s return to the Union after the Civil War.

“Some of the most pernicious attempts to suppress the voting rights of Black citizens trace back to the Civil War, but they have consequences that persist to this day,” said Vishal Agraharkar, senior supervising attorney at the ACLU of Virginia.

“Today, Virginia is one of only three states whose constitutions permanently disenfranchise all people with felony convictions unless the governor restores their right to vote – which not only deprives Virginians of their voting rights, but breaks federal law.”




https://virginiamercury.com/2025/07/21/lawsuit-over-virginias-felon-voting-ban-gains-steam-with-new-legal-filings/