Note: a felony is a major crime.
Different states have different laws regarding what rights convicted criminals lose. These rights include the right to vote, to serve on juries, and to run for political office.
Please read the article below and answer, "Should people lose their right to vote when convicted of a felony?"
Reminder: your answer should include a connection that helps the reader understand your position.
McDonnell restores rights to 506 eligible felons
Olympia Meola, Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 17, 2010
Richmond, Va. --
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has granted restored rights 506 of the 574 convicted criminals who applied for restoration.
This is the first update since the governor announced a deadline to act on applications and a review process that he said would be faster and more efficient.
Restoration of civil rights enables convicted criminals to vote, serve on juries and to run for public office.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Janet Polarek yesterday shared the results of 1,080 applications that the administration has reviewed since it announced the new process May 20.
Of that pool, 574 applications were eligible, complete and waiting for a decision.
A nonviolent felon must wait two years after completing his or her sentence before applying; it's five years for a violent felon.
The governor denied 22 of the two-year applicants and 46 of the five-year applicants.
"We are very pleased that we have been able to stick with the new system," Polarek said. "It's working, we met the deadline and we're turning around these applications in a really fair and fast way."
The new process had a rough birth. The administration in April considered a change that would require nonviolent felons to submit with their application a letter explaining the circumstances of their arrest and conviction, subsequent strides in education or community service and why the restoration is justified.
The proposed process drew criticism from civil-rights groups -- who likened the letters to literacy tests that once prevented the uneducated from voting.
The administration killed the letter idea and instead added an optional item on the application, where felons seeking restoration of their rights can describe any community service or comparable service they want to bring to the governor's attention.
Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, was among the critics of the administration's early proposal. He said yesterday that at this rate, McDonnell, a Republican, is on course to meet and maybe surpass his two predecessors, both Democrats.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine restored the rights of more than 4,300 felons during his term. Gov. Mark R. Warner restored rights to 3,486.
Still, Willis adds, at this pace, the results are still coming too slow, considering there are more than 300,000 people who can't vote because of a felony record. Willis prefers an automatic restoration of civil rights. Virginia and Kentucky are the only states that leave the restoration approval solely with the governor.
"If Governor McDonnell restores voting rights to [4,000] or 5,000 individuals during his four-year term, that will be commendable" he said. "But it's still a drop in the bucket, leaving about 98 percent of Virginia's disenfranchised persons unable to vote."
