When Governor McAuliffe restored voting rights to 206,000 felons that number included at least 132 sex offenders confined to Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation. These offenders have been confined by a judge in a civil court because they have been deemed “too dangerous to be released”.
According to Nottoway Commonwealth’s Attorney Terry J. Royall, 176 of those confined have the right to vote under the Governor’s order and 132 have applied to have their rights restored and are now eligible to vote, serve on a jury and run for public office. In a letter to county Supervisors Royall said those confined
“are civilly committed because they have been adjudicated to be sexually violent predators by a circuit court judge. Moreover, they will have to be transported at taxpayer cost when they choose to exercise their Constitutional rights to vote and/or serve on a jury.”
This is outrageous. Of course the Governor and his spokesperson are accusing CA Royall of demagoguing the issue. The Governor’s spokesperson, Christina Nuckols, shot back at Royall,
“The governor’s restoration order specifically excludes individuals who are under any form of supervised release, and offenders in this facility are clearly under 24-7 supervision by the state,” Nuckols said. “None of them had their rights restored, plain and simple. This is yet another partisan attempt to spread misinformation and hysteria.”
Well, they have had their voting rights restored as a Royall found through a quick online check.
Candidate for Attorney General Delegate Rob Bell (R-Albemarle) described the confinement of these dangerous sex offenders as “a post-sentence civil procedure.”
“I understand his desire to go to the wayback machine and modify his order yet again,” Bell said of McAuliffe. “But this happened.”
The Governor has excused problems with his executive order pardoning felons as ‘unavoidable errors’ and vowed to correct the many problems. Don’t hold your breath. The Governor has no incentive to correct any of the errors.
More on the story here.
