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Restoring a right: Felons in Virginia petition to vote
On Tuesday, Falls Church resident Brinson Reed will not cast a ballot for president.
In fact, Reed has never voted in an election during his lifetime because of a label he acquired in 1972, less than a year after graduating high school.
That label is felon, and Virginia joins Kentucky as the only two states in the country that never restore voting rights to people convicted of a felony unless they successfully petition the governor.
Reed was convicted of selling less than 1/4 of an ounce of marijuana as a teenager.
Since then, his criminal record has been clear, and he works as a musician and music teacher. He plays guitar, performs around the area and has an album out, he said.
“For a lot of years, I just accepted [not being able to vote], and sort of buried my head in the sand,” Reed said. “But eventually I just got to the point where I want my voice heard too.”
In September, Reed successfully petitioned the Fairfax County Circuit Court to have his voting rights restored, but Gov. Tim Kaine has not sent him a letter confirming his restoration yet, so he was unable to register in time for next week's election.
According to Gordon Hickey, a spokesman for Kaine, the secretary of the commonwealth's office announced last spring that any convicted felon who wanted to petition to have his or her voting rights restored should do so by Aug. 1 for the petition to be acted on in time for the presidential election's Oct. 6 registration deadline.
As of Oct. 4, Kaine had restored the voting rights of 1,233 nonviolent felons in 2008. He denied 155 petitions, Hickey said.
Since taking office, Kaine has restored voting rights for 2,644 nonviolent felons. Former Gov. Mark Warner restored the rights of 3,486 felons during his time in office.
Warner is credited for streamlining the process for nonviolent felons to get their voting rights back. He simplified the paperwork from 13 pages to one page and eliminated the requirement for three submitted reference letters.
Loudoun County Clerk of the Circuit Court Gary Clemens said he is not aware of anyone in the county applying this year for restoration of their rights.
In Fairfax County, a clerk said 18 petitions were filed this year, but only three of those were closed as of Oct. 17.
Reed's case is one of the 15 that are still pending.
He said he's slightly disappointed that he can't vote in the Nov. 4 election because he thinks it's an important one.
Watching the changes that have taken place in government over the years made him want his right to vote restored.
“I'm very opinionated about some things,” Reed said. “I didn't feel I could shoot my mouth off without trying to get my right to vote back.”
He said he has tried to put aside the money to file a petition with the court for a while now but ended up spending it on other things.
The fee is $89 to file a petition for restoration of voting rights, plus the petitioner pays associated court costs.
Earlier this year, a friend from high school who is now a lawyer urged Reed to go through with it.
Del. David Poisson (D-northeastern Loudoun) said he thinks Virginia's law on felon voting “strikes the proper balance.”
“It simply allows the governor to review whether or not a person ought to have those rights restored,” he said. “... I think it's helpful to have another level of review as is provided in Virginia and Kentucky.”
Reed said he is not opposed to the way Virginia handles the restoration of voting rights to felons, but he thinks it should be handled with a little more discretion.
“When somebody mentions a felon, they think of someone who's done something violent and terrible,” Reed said, adding that what he did may have been “stupid” but was not violent. “It doesn't make sense to me to have an armed robber or a murderer in the same category.”
He said he thinks felons should automatically be reviewed for restoration of voting rights at the end of their sentences. If they are not approved, they should automatically be considered every four or five years afterward.
“Now you never have the right to vote,” Reed said. “That really doesn't make a lot of sense except in some cases. You have to look at things on a case-by-case basis.”
In Virginia's House of Delegates, Del. Dave Albo (R-Springfield) has a history of killing bills that would automatically restore the rights for some felons.
“The reason I take an active role in killing them is that everyone I ever prosecuted or defended in my 20 years of practicing law knew what they were about to do was not legal before they did it. And they chose to do it anyway,” Albo said. “Thus, I don't think people who commit felonies -- who knew they were going to do it and it was illegal -- should be trusted with a vote on how our state should be run.”
Albo said losing the right to vote is a consequence of breaking the law.
“The Constitution gives the governor the absolute power to pardon and restore rights, so we can't do anything about the fact that the governor likes the idea of having felons voting,” he said. “It is his decision and his decision alone.”
Albo then pointed out what he called an “obvious coincidence” between this year's election and Kaine restoring voting rights to many felons.
“Virginia could go Democratic for president by just a few votes,” Albo said. “And those votes could be the felons.”
Contact the reporter at jwagoner@timespapers.com
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