An Ohio Judge's decision to allow teenagers turning 18 before the election to vote in the state's primary may not have panned out for Bernie Sanders, who sued so that the young voters could vote, but it did give voting rights to those who wouldn't have had them otherwise. In a similar case Virginia's governor has granted convicted felons the opportunity to vote in the November election Uproxxreports.
Prior to today's change people with felony convictions were barred from voting ever again reportsThe Washington Post, with changes made to restore voting rights to them in recent years. In the U.S. almost 6 million Americans can't vote because of felony convictions The New York Timesreports citing The Sentencing Project, which it describes as a "Washington research organization." According to The Sentencing Project, in Virginia one in five African-Americans can't vote. As Uproxxreports, Maine and Vermont are the only states that don't restrict felons' voting rights, allowing them to vote from prison, while other states let felons vote again after a certain amount of time and if they've paid fines owed.
Uproxxreports Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe—a democrat—signed an executive order, meaning he had the power to do that without consulting legislature. The order restores voting rights to over 200,000 convicts but only if they've both finished their sentences and probation reportsUproxx.
Those affected most by the order will be African Americans according toUproxx.
"There's no question that we've had a horrible history in voting rights as relates to African-Americans—we should remedy it," McAuliffe told the NYT in an interview on Thursday. "We should do it as soon as we possibly can."
McAuliffe said in the announcement of the order:
