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16 Mar, 7 tweets, 2 min read
big Virginia news: Gov. Northam will be issuing an executive action today to restore the voting rights of anyone who is formerly incarcerated.

This is a big extension of rights in VA, and an extension of what governors here have been doing.

CNN reports: cnn.com/2021/03/16/pol…
To recap:

1/ Virginia law imposes LIFETIME bans on voting for any felony.

2/ in recent years, McAuliffe & then Northam have been restoring the voting rights of ppl who complete their full sentence (including probation, etc.)

3/ New order extends that to anyone not in prison.
A wave of states have been enfranchising anyone not in prison (NJ, CA, CO, NV., now 19 total) legislatively or via initiative.

This is 1st time I'm aware of a governor getting a state to this stage. (VA's legislature did pass a similar measure, but needs to pass again in 2022.)
INBOX: a press release by Northam's office

"going forward, any Virginian released from incarceration will qualify to have their rights restored"

"Too many of our laws were written during a time of open racism and discrimination, and they still bear the traces of inequity"
Just 2 months ago, Northam had proposed a far weaker measure than today's to the legislature.

VA advocates were mobilizing around stronger measures. (I fleshed out what differences were in the thread below.)

A big change for Northam even just since then.
What's next in Virginia?

1/ The work to register/inform the newly-enfranchised.

2/ Measure to enable anyone not in prison to vote wld need to pass again in 2022.

3/ Neighboring DC enabled people in prison to vote too. Activists in VA asked for that too. theappeal.org/politicalrepor…
a (smallish) correction: My brain froze when I was writing this thread & said that Northam was the 1st governor to use executive action to enfranchise everyone who not in prison. Cuomo did the same in New York a few years ago.

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More from @Taniel

Taniel Profile picture
16 Mar
A big share of the debate on voting rights was long focused on getting people’s rights restored once they finish whole sentence. But many activists were pushing loudly to get rid of disenfranchisement altogether. And in just a few years, they’ve changed the landscape so much.
Still only DC has outright abolished it (joining ME & VT).

But push helped move default Dem position further to universal suffrage — at least to idea anyone not incarcerated should vote. States getting that done since 2019 unthinkable 26 months ago — CA, NJ, CO, harsh NV...
And today, the most shocking shoe dropped Virginia. The Gov said he’d enfranchise anyone not in prison via EOs.

When the Gov in 2017 did a weaker EO, *Dem* prosecutors fought him.

But then, they lost primaries. Activists demanded full abolition. Today we got a far stronger EO.
Read 4 tweets
Taniel Profile picture
12 Mar
Four Democratic U.S. representatives from NY all called on Governor Cuomo to resign within minutes just now: Reps. Jerry Nadler, Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
UPDATE: 8 Dem representatives from NY just called on Cuomo to resign in statements issued within minutes:

Reps. Jerry Nadler, Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Carolyn Maloney, Yvette Clarke, Nydia Velazquez, Grace Meng

(Kathleen Rice had already done so)
UPDATE: 9 Dem representatives from NY called on Cuomo to resign in statements within minutes:

Jerry Nadler, Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Carolyn Maloney, Yvette Clarke, Nydia Velazquez, Grace Meng, Adriano Espaillat

Kathleen Rice had already done so.
Read 9 tweets
Taniel Profile picture
10 Mar
The Iowa prosecutor who chose to go after this reporter who was covering BLM protests is a Democrat who hasn't faced an opponent since 1990. Seat is up in 2022. (desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/…)

(Prosecutors matter!)
And prosecutorial elections matter too!

(Hence why we're covering the 2021 races so attentively at @theappeal: theappeal.org/criminal-justi…)

Polk County will have to wait another year.
Too often in cases like this, the basic fact that the trial was *a choice made by a prosecutor to use their discretion in this way* does not get the attention it deserves.

Will this one be different?
Read 4 tweets
Taniel Profile picture
3 Mar
Wow: a shock result in St Louis tonight.

The 2 most progressive candidates in the mayoral election have moved to the runoff. Cara Spencer, Tishaura Jones. (City council president eliminated.)

There were major contrasts in 4-way race on policing, criminal justice, housing. See:
Spencer and T. Jones were only candidates who ran on ending the notorious local Workhouse jail.

Jones faced attacks for supporting the decriminalization of sex work during the campaign.

Reed, one of the perceived front-runners, won’t make runoff. More: theappeal.org/st-louis-mayor…
This is at least 4th recent St Louis-region election where the candidates who won or advanced were those who’d ran the more strongly in the field on criminal justice reform/changing policing.

St Louis County prosecutor
St Louis City prosecutor
Cori Bush’s primary
Mayor’s race
Read 4 tweets
Taniel Profile picture
28 Feb
Big voting rights news in Virginia!

Both legislative chambers adopted a measure yesterday to restore voting rights to everyone not incarcerated.

VA would be 20th state to allow that, a HUGE turnaround: VA is now one of 3 states where law is *lifetime* loss for all felonies.
Two *buts*

1/ Measure has to be a constitutional amendment, so process is complex: it has to be adopted again next year, then put on 2022 ballot.

2/ State will continue stripping ppl in prison of vote. VA advocates mounted very focused push to end disenfranchisement entirely.
One reason it’s significant: states with*lifetime* bans, when they’ve reformed, have been adopting smaller measures that enfranchise ppl who complete a sentence — leaving many not incarcerated disenfranchised, confusingly.

VA jumped over that stage, at least. (As NV in 2019.)
Read 4 tweets
Taniel Profile picture
24 Feb
Portland's new DA just testified in the Oregon legislature in favor of the bill to abolish felony disenfranchisement, including when people are in prison.

(on the bill: theappeal.org/politicalrepor…)
I asked Schmidt about this when he was runnig last year. (And fwiw I believe I may have been the first person to get him on the public record on whether he supports this: he didn't seem to expect the question, which isn't often asked.)

theappeal.org/politicalrepor… Image
Oregon's Secretary of State, @Shemia_Fagan, also testified for the favor.

With this strong encapsulation of the case for it.

(An earlier testimony by Fagan was broadly supportive, but had a big qualifier. See exchange: )

Read 5 tweets

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