Elections

Virginia Votes To Overturn Lifetime Voting Ban for Felony Offenders

Virginia's Question 3 passed by a comfortable margin, ending more than 100 years of felon disenfranchisement in the state.

C.J. Ciaramella | 11.4.2026 1:10 PM

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(Illustration: Jlmcanally & William Berry/Dreamstime)

Virginia voters passed a ballot initiative Tuesday night ending the state's lifetime voting ban for felony offenders and scrapping one of the harshest such restrictions in the country.

Virginia's Question 3 asked voters to restore voting rights to those convicted of felonies upon their release from prison. The legislatively referred constitutional amendment, which passed by a margin of 56 percent to 43 percent, repeals a provision of the state's 1902 constitution that imposed a lifetime voting ban on felony offenders, absent a restoration order from the governor.

In recent years, similar felon voting restrictions have fallen in other states across the country, leaving Virginia as a notable outlier. Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2018 to end the state's lifetime voting ban........

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