Delegate Herring Works to Restore Voting Rights
Delegate Herring is working with community groups to help ex-felons regain their civil rights--the right to vote.
Delegate Herring and Community Leaders working to help with voter registration
Delegate Charniele Herring (VA-46) is working with community groups to help nonviolent ex-felons statewide to regain their civil rights—their ability to vote. On January 15, 2011 over 35 people attended her second voting restoration clinic, held at Mt. Jezreel Baptist Church.
Delegate Herring says, “Voting rights restoration is an ever-timely issue, especially as we just celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr Day.” In Virginia, the Governor restores voting rights. Virginia is only one of two states that have this policy of permanently taking away a fundamental right unless there is intervention on a case by case basis.
Herring says, “When a person has served their time, paid fines, and paid restitution they are supposed to be welcomed back into society. This should happen because we have a system that punishes crime and rehabilitates people. When a person has completed their court sanctioned penalties, he or she deserves their rights without having to hope for a stroke of the Governor's pen. Governor McDonnell has improved the process from the past; however, his improved approach unnecessarily costs the taxpayers money.”
“I have introduced HJ 543 to help Virginia take a step forward. Our backwards way not only costs the state resources but it is inconsistent with the value of redemption. I want to open public discourse on voting rights restoration and have filed this resolution to allow the General Assembly to create an automatic process—to save both money and human dignity,” says Herring, “While Governor McDonnell has improved the process for the restoration of voting rights in Virginia, the reality is a subjective bureaucratic process, and that process is contrary to our notion of American citizenship.”
To continue her work, Delegate Herring will be holding a third voter restoration clinic from 10:00am to 11:30am on Monday, January 24th in the General Assembly Building in Richmond.
