«But there’s a long road ahead, because Virginia has a complex process for constitutional amendments: They must pass in two consecutive legislative sessions, and then be approved by voters in a statewide referendum. Concretely, this means that the voting rights reform needs to pass the legislature again in 2026 before voters even get to weigh in.

And that repeat passage very likely hinges on whether Democrats maintain legislative control during this November’s elections, when the entirety of the state House is on the ballot. This measure is universally supported by Democratic lawmakers and almost universally opposed by Republicans, and the GOP could, and probably would, look to kill it next year if they win back the state House in the fall.

Virginia’s system of felony disenfranchisement is a Jim Crow relic, enshrined during a 1902 state constitutional convention with specifically racist intent. One of the lead authors at that convention said at the time that a system which ties voting rights to criminal records would “eliminate the darkie as a political factor” in Virginia, and guarantee “the complete supremacy of the white race in the affairs of government.”»

https://boltsmag.org/virginia-advances-measure-to-end-lifetime-ban-on-voting/

None of us are racists today, of course*, so this is a classic example of racism without racists.

«[Sweater vest dad Governor Glenn] Youngkin, the Republican who succeeded Northam in 2022, shut down that decade of reform. He said he’d only consider whether people are worthy of having their rights restored on an individual, case-by-case basis.»

Not a racist, though. Just a gentle, loveable guy.

\* Sarcasm, Mastodon. Give me a little credit.