Story at a glance
- Two measures that would have automatically restored voting rights to convicted felons following their sentences and given voters the ability to decide whether language prohibiting same-sex marriage should be struck from the state’s Constitution were blocked by Virginia House Republicans early Tuesday morning.
- Former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe called the vote “shameful.”
- While LGBTQ+ advocates on Tuesday argued the state constitution’s language was rendered obsolete following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, opponents argued removing the language would open the door to things like polygamy.
Virginia House Republicans on Tuesday blocked two measures that would have allowed voters to decide whether to remove language from the state Constitution outlawing same-sex marriage and automatically restore voting rights to convicted felons following their sentences.
Although both proposals had passed the General Assembly last year, each Constitutional amendment also needed to pass this year to go to voter referendums in the fall, The Associated Press reported. The measures died early Tuesday morning in party-line votes during a subcommittee meeting.
The voting rights resolution, sponsored by Del. Charniele Herring (D), would have automatically restored a person’s voting rights following their incarceration. In Virginia, only the governor is able to restore a felon’s right to vote, along with other civil rights like the right to run for office.
State Democrats were quick to criticize Republicans following the vote in which five Republicans blocked the measure from passing. A similar proposal was introduced by Republican Del. Mike Cherry, a Republican.
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“Shameful! Virginians who have paid their debt to society deserve to have their voices heard at the ballot box,” former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe tweeted. “We wont stop fighting until we fully reverse this Jim Crow era law and make restoration of voting rights automatic.”
McAuliffe had sought another term as governor in Virginia’s gubernatorial race last year, ultimately losing to Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin.
Marcus Simon, a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates, called the vote “a truly cowardly move” by House Republicans.
“And to be extra petty about [it] they laid their own caucus members version on the table so they could kill a Dem version of the resolution,” he wrote on Twitter.
The subcommittee on Tuesday also defeated a measure introduced by Del. Mark Sickles (D) that would have allowed Virginia voters in the fall to decide whether to repeal language in the state’s Constitution defining marriage as only a union between one man and one woman.
LGBTQ+ advocates argued that the current language is offensive and outdated, as the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2015.
But opponents at the Tuesday meeting said the resolution would effectively condone polygamy because it did not include language limiting marriage to two people, The Associated Press reported.
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