SB767:

Voter registration; restoration of political rights upon release from incarceration.

Bill Summary:

Voter registration; restoration of political rights upon release from incarceration; certain adjudications. Provides that any person who is convicted of a felony and sentenced to a period of incarceration for such felony conviction is not entitled to register to vote or to vote for the duration of the period of incarceration, but that he is to be invested with all political rights lost as a result of the felony conviction upon release from incarceration and is thereafter entitled to register to vote. The bill requires the Department of Corrections and the State Board of Local and Regional Jails to transmit to the Department of Elections certain information related to an incarcerated person with a scheduled date of release. The bill also requires the Director of the Department of Corrections to provide to any person being released from incarceration, on the date of his release, (i) an application to register to vote with instructions for returning the application by mail; (ii) information regarding how to register to vote by electronic means or in person, in the form prescribed by the State Board of Elections for this purpose; and (iii) an official release document for voter registration purposes. Enactment of the provisions of this bill are contingent upon the passage of an amendment to the Constitution of Virginia on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2022 providing for the qualifications of voters and the right to vote by amending Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia related to persons convicted of a felony and persons adjudicated as lacking the capacity to understand the act of voting.