“I‘ll do everything I can to get disenfranchised voters entrenched,” says Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, who promised when he ran for the office, he now says, to be “a brick wall” to protect their rights.
Perhaps his siege metaphors result from the rapid and unfavorable GOP reaction to his restoration last week of voting rights to 200,000 Virginia felons. Governor McAuliffe, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, warned Republicans to proceed carefully with any suggestion that the timing of his order is related to the current election year.
To be sure, the reenfranchised felons have to have served their sentences and successfully completed any period of parole or probation in order to register to vote. Until 2013, when former Republican governor Bob McDonnell began to streamline restoration of rights procedures, Virginia was one of only four states in the country that still permanently disenfranchised convicted felons. McAuliffe has eased the restoration process, by executive order, several times since he took office in 2014.
The Scrapbook is willing to concede that there may be no (or few) crassly partisan ulterior motives in play. But we are struck with sympathy for one group that will be much affected—political pollsters, who break down the results from their respondents by demographic group, party affiliation, marital status, income level, and other so-called cross tabs. With the influx of this special class of the formerly nonvoting, they’re going to have to update their Excel spreadsheets to include, among others, categories for murderers, rapists, embezzlers, drug lords, and drug ladies. Do we offend against political correctness? We would beg pardon, but ours may be the only remaining unpardonable offense.
