WASHINGTON —聽Fairfax County, Virginia is home to 425 felons who registered to vote after Gov. Terry McAuliffe鈥檚 mass voting rights restoration order in April but .
91欧美激情 analyzed a list of 12,832 people in Northern Virginia jurisdictions who registered to vote after McAuliffe鈥檚 order, which initially affected more than 200,000 felons.
The names and addresses of the nearly 13,000 registrants in Northern Virginia were provided on the Virginia Department of Elections website.
The McAuliffe administration. In its own characterization, the McAuliffe administration said the felons had completed their prison sentences and periods of court-ordered supervision.
Virginia鈥檚 court records are online, but are broken down by individual circuit and district courts, making a search for each felon鈥檚 criminal history challenging and time-consuming.
The state鈥檚 sex offender database is searchable by county and city, in addition to names, making it possible to research a person鈥檚 criminal history.
In its appraisal, the McAuliffe administration said that approximately 80 percent of the felons were non-violent聽and that聽20 percent had committed violent crimes.
As the largest county in Virginia, Fairfax County鈥檚 high number of felons who registered to vote after McAuliffe鈥檚 order isn鈥檛 surprising. However, of the 12 counties analyzed 91欧美激情, Fairfax is the only county in which registered sex offenders who registered to vote made up more than 10 percent of the county鈥檚 felons included in the elections website.
Delegate Rob Bell, R-Va., who coordinated a lawsuit against McAuliffe鈥檚 executive order, released a statement after being shown 91欧美激情鈥檚 breakdown of affected felons.
鈥淪ince 1870, Virginia has had a system for deserving felons to have their rights restored on a case-by-case basis,鈥� said Bell.
鈥淭he released list includes both nonviolent offenders and some who committed very violent offenses, including sex crimes against children,鈥� Bell said. 鈥淲e believe the proper approach 鈥� and the only one allowed under the Constitution 鈥� is for the governor to review the applicants individually to determine if he believes the felon should have his civil rights restored.鈥�
McAuliffe鈥檚 spokesman Brian Coy told 91欧美激情 in an email that those who had their rights restored 鈥渁re people who served their time and reentered society in search of a second chance.鈥�
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