It is generally agreed upon that when someone commits a crime, they have broken society’s rules and therefore should be punished. However, once someone who has been convicted of a crime has served their sentence, they should be allowed full voting rights like any other citizen. Former prisoners have paid their debt to society, and they deserve to be a part of this country’s democracy.
In January 2026, lawmakers in Virginia passed a constitutional amendment that would allow anyone convicted of a felony to automatically gain their full voting rights restored after serving their sentence. Voters in Virginia will cast a vote on this amendment on Nov. 3, 2026 to determine whether the law goes into effect.
Until then, according to Viringia’s state constitution, citizens with felony convictions can only vote if the governor, Abigail Spanberger in this case, personally restores their voting rights.
Under the current framework, prisoners do not get their voting rights automatically restored, which is fundamentally wrong. Once someone has finished their court ordered sentence in prison or jail, they have fulfilled what was required of them. Allowing former prisoners who have paid their debt to society to vote is necessary; blocking their right to vote after their debt is paid is just an additional and unneeded punishment.
If someone is to be trusted enough to rejoin society, democracy says that they should have a voice in it. When people are released from prison, they regain most other rights that come with being a citizen that they lost while in prison. These rights include freedom of speech, privacy rights and the right against unreasonable searches. The right to vote should not be singled out.
Already, courts are making decisions on this. On Jan. 22, 2026, a federal judge in Richmond ruled in the class action lawsuit of King v. Youngkin, that was filed by the ACLU of Virginia, that Virginia cannot keep people with felony convictions from voting unless they were convicted of one of 11 serious crimes outlined in an 1870 federal law.
This law, which is over 150 years old, was originally made to prevent Virginia and other states in the Confederacy from denying people voting rights. Under the law, unless someone committed a “serious” or “infamous” crime, such as arson, murder or robbery to name a few, they had to be allowed full voting rights upon release. The judge ruled that the current rule that bars all people convicted of a felony from voting violates this 1870 federal law.
“For well over a century, the Commonwealth of Virginia has disobeyed a federal law designed to protect the right of former enslaved people to vote,” U.S. District Court Judge John Gibney wrote in his Jan. 22 opinion.
Some may argue that ex-convicts are still dangerous to society and, therefore, their rights must be limited. However, going to prison is punishment for a person breaking society’s rules and they’re already been rehabilitated.
Ultimately, people who commit crimes and have served their time deserve rights as now full members of society. By stripping away the rights of those who have been formerly incarnated, even after they have served their time, Virginia is denying them what they deserve and have served time for.
