In an effort to assist convicted felons petition to restore their voting rights, the College Democrats of Longwood University and the commonwealth attorney of Prince Edward County in addition to the Prince Edward Democratic Committee co-sponsored an event on Tuesday, April 3 at the Robert Russa Moton Museum.
Prince Edward Democratic Community chair Ty King Cooper stated the Prince Edward County Democrats were spearheading the event and were inspired by friends and family members seeking to restore their rights.
“We were the lead organization for this event,” Cooper said. “I have a number of friends who have been contacting me over the past few years about restoring their right to vote."
The College Democrats became involved with the event after outreach from the Prince Edward Democratic Committee.
According to Sophomore Joe Hyman, a Political Science major and president of College Democrats, they often work with the Prince Edward Democratic Committee.
“I am here today, at Moton Museum, to support a restoration of rights event for convicted felons to re-obtain their voting rights,” Hyman said. “The college democrats work very closely with the Prince Edward County Democrats. They are the primary sponsor of this event and they asked if we would like to sponsor it as well, which we said yes we will.”
According to Hyman, the event will benefit the community as a whole.
“It's beneficial to the community as a whole because many of these people have gone through what I believe to be a broken prison system and people who have gone through said prison system and then are restricted are their right to change the broken prison system, I believe that’s a deep, deep issue that needs to be solved,” Hyman said. “And giving them back their voice, to change the system they went through, is one of the best ways to do it.”
Convicted felons could fill out forms at the event. According to Megan Clark, the Commonwealth of Virginia's attorney for Prince Edward County, the event included government representatives who were available to assist in completing the forms.
“A lot people think there is a particular form you can fill out and there is, and it goes to the governor’s office,” Clark said. “Representatives from the governor’s office are here to assist with filing those forms out.”
Gerome Booth, a convicted felon, made a point to file his during the event.
“I filled out the form personally when I came up here,” Booth said.“I’m just here trying to get my rights back.”
Booth said he believes that restoring his life will change his life for the better.
“Voting means a life. I feel like one of my voice could have been one of the voices,” Booth said. “I feel like I’ll have more opportunities available to me.”
According to Cooper, recent political events have generated more interest in restoration of rights.
“After the last presidential election we realized it was time to get back to the roots and helping anyone we possibly can to vote,” Cooper said. “So people people are actually completing the applications today...convicted felons are completing the applications to get their rights restored.”
Additionally, individuals have taken forms for themselves or other members of their community to complete elsewhere.
“There’s been 15-20 today. A number of people have taken back papers to their churches, their communities, town hall groups,” Cooper said. “So hopefully by November we will have restored the rights of over 100 people in the greater Farmville area.”
Though the event was primarily for convicted felons, other members of the Farmville community came out to learn about the restoration of rights.
Dr. Abdul Bari Ansari, a Farmville local who is not a convicted felon, said he came to learn more and to bring forms back to members of his community who are.
“I came because I have friends and individuals I know who are felons, who would like to get their rights restored and I wanted to learn as much about the process as I can to assist,” Ansari said. “One of the things I found out is that the process is actually very easy, individuals can actually do it online.”
According to Khalil Latif, a local attorney, he came to learn how to further help his clients in restoring their rights, some of whom may struggle with literacy issues.
“I’m attending the event in support of the organizations that are putting it together...Many of the individuals that getting their rights restored, I assist them with getting their rights restored,” Latif said. “Some people feel the forms are too complicated, and want someone to explain it to them.”
According to Clark, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, voting rights are rescinded at the time of a felony conviction and can be restored through the governor’s office.
“Once you have been convicted as an adult of a felony offense your right to vote is taken away, as well your right to possess and carry firearms. The right to vote, the right to serve on a jury, those civil liberties are taken away from you with the conviction,” Clark said.
According to Clark, voting rights can be restored after a felon’s probation has ended.
“Once you are no longer on probation, and finished with your active sentence and finished with your obligations with the felony offense you are able to petition to the Governor’s office to have those civil rights restored,” Clark noted. “And if the Governor grants those rights back then you can petition to have your right to a firearm back.”
According to Lashawnda Singleton, communications manager for the restoration of rights department for the Commonwealth of Virginia, restoration of rights extends beyond voting to several other rights.
“I work under the secretary of the commonwealth,” Singleton said. “What we do is assist returning citizens their civil rights, which is the to vote, the right to run for public office, the right to sit on a jury, the right to be a notary.”
The process takes two to three weeks to be completed after the department is contacted.
“After they have received a felony conviction, they contact our office,” Singleton said. “We assist them in filling out the application. The process takes two to three weeks. Once they have been approved we’ll mail them out the documents and then their rights will be restored.”
According to Singleton, restoration of rights is one priority of the current governor of Virginia.
“It’s something that Governor (Terry) McAuliffe talked about through his campaign when he was running for governor,” Singleton said. “It was one of those things he felt was the right thing to do, and he really wanted to focus on assisting returning citizens’ reintegration into society so it’s as smooth as easy as possible.”
According to Singleton there were around 400,000 convicted felons at the beginning of McAuliffe’s term whose rights had not been restored, but significant progress has been made.
“In the entire Commonwealth it was approximately 400,000. Right now over 152,000 have had their rights restored back.”
According to Cooper, the Prince Edward Democratic Committee may host similar events in the future.
“We hope to grow off of this experience, next time have some assistance from local probation and parole and maybe the local jail to have them blast us out to their clients,” Cooper commented.
