In Response, Plaintiff Plans to Appeal to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Today, the United States District Court for the Eastern District Of Virginia ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s revival of an arbitrary voting rights restoration system that gives the governor absolute power over restoring voting rights to Virginians with past felony convictions. Fair Elections Center and Victor M. Glasberg & Associates litigated the case before the court on behalf of plaintiff George Hawkins, who has had his application for voting rights restoration denied twice by the Governor. Mr. Hawkins plans to appeal the federal court’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
“As someone who has never had the opportunity to vote in my entire life, I respectfully but strongly disagree with the court’s decision in this case,” said George Hawkins, the plaintiff in this federal lawsuit. “Nevertheless, we will continue to fight for justice, and we will appeal this decision. I have met all requirements to earn my freedom, and I have paid my debt to society in full. Therefore, I should be entitled to the same rights as any other person with citizenship.”
“Politicians should not have the power to restore or deny voting rights arbitrarily, and our client should not have to seek Governor Youngkin’s blessing to participate in our democracy,” said Jon Sherman, Litigation Director at Fair Elections Center. “Even the federal court’s own decision recognizes that Virginia’s arbitrary system lacks transparency and fairness, likening the governor to ‘a monarch’ who rules according to whim and owes no explanation to anyone. Despite today’s ruling, we maintain that the days of arbitrarily licensing the right to vote are numbered and plan to appeal.”
More than 66,000 Virginians remain disenfranchised after serving their complete sentences for felony convictions. In 2023, Gov. Youngkin reversed the policies of Virginia’s last three governors, who used clear, neutral criteria such as sentence completion for restoring voting rights to Virginians applying for voting rights restoration. Gov. Youngkin now claims unlimited discretion to grant or deny each individual’s application for regaining their right to vote without any specific criteria or rules to guide these decisions. The lawsuit argued that Gov. Youngkin’s scheme violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and instead, called for a non-arbitrary restoration system governed by objective rules and criteria and reasonable, definite time limits.
