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Question 3: Right to Vote and Automatic Restoration of Voting Rights After Incarceration

Statewide — all of Virginia

General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

  • Legislatively referred constitutional amendment (House Joint Resolution 2). Ballotpedia News reports the January 2026 second passage was 65-33 in the House (one Republican, Del. Mike Cherry, voting yes) and 21-18 in the Senate.[1]

The question on the ballot

Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended (i) to provide for the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, (ii) to revise the qualifications of voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitled to vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically invested with the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and (iii) to update the existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentally incompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting?[5][6]

From the Department of Elections' Explanation for Voters: the Constitution currently provides that a person convicted of any felony loses the right to vote for life unless the Governor takes administrative action to restore it, and it broadly restricts voting by persons found by a court to be incapacitated. The proposed amendment enshrines a fundamental right to vote for all qualified persons, with two exceptions: persons serving a sentence of incarceration for a felony conviction, and persons a court has specifically found do not understand the act of voting. A person convicted of a felony regains the right to vote on release from incarceration without applying to the Governor. With the right to vote a person also has the right to be a juror, to be elected to office and to be a notary public. The explanation does not state a fiscal impact.[5]

A YES vote means

Adds a fundamental right to vote to the Constitution; a person convicted of a felony loses the right only while incarcerated and automatically regains it on release; the voting bar for mental incompetence is replaced with one for persons a court finds lack the capacity to understand the act of voting.

A NO vote means

Leaves the Constitution unchanged: a felony conviction continues to remove the right to vote until the Governor or other appropriate authority restores it, and the existing incompetence bar stays as written.

The law today

Department of Elections 'Present Law': the Constitution provides that a person convicted of any felony loses the right to vote for the rest of their life unless the Governor takes administrative action to restore that person's right, which is the only means of regaining it. A person determined by a court to be incapacitated, regardless of the kind of incapacity, loses the right to vote, and only a court can restore it.[5]

Read the full text of the measure ↗

Arguments made for

  • Del. Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) said: "I don’t want a Democratic governor or a Republican governor to be able to restore someone’s ability to vote," and added: "We want it to automatically happen. Once you’ve served your time, your ability to vote should be able to come back automatically."[2]
  • Del. Mike Cherry (R-Colonial Heights), who voted for the amendment, told the Virginia Mercury: "If a judge didn’t give you a life sentence, we shouldn’t give you a life sentence as a society."[3]

Arguments made against

  • State Sen. Chris Head (R-Roanoke County) said, per WDBJ7: "You’ve got restitution that should be paid and things that need to be done to show that you have completed and done all of the paying for the crime, if you will," and added: "Those things are left out."[2]
  • Connie Crittenden, described by the Rockbridge Report as a representative of the local Republican party, is concerned about violent felons having their rights restored: "Their rights are automatically restored without any appeal and without any consideration," she said.[4]

On record in support

  • Virginians for the Right to Vote (registered referendum committee, 'Vote Yes'; VPM reports it was completely funded by New Virginia Majority as of its last filing).[7]
  • ACLU of Virginia (statement supporting the amendments, January 16, 2026).[8]
  • 50 Ways Rockbridge (local nonprofit advocacy group supporting a yes vote on all three amendments).[4]
  • Virginia Catholic Conference (campaign materials encouraging a yes vote on the voter restoration amendment, per VPM).[7]
  • Del. Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) urged a yes vote, per WDBJ7.[2]

On record in opposition

  • State Sen. Chris Head (R-District 3) opposes the amendment as written while supporting a pathway to restoration, per WDBJ7.[2]

Research notes & limits

Official ballot question and Explanation for Voters from the Virginia Department of Elections brochure, cross-checked against the certified list. LIS roll calls could not be loaded; vote counts are from Ballotpedia News (reference). No official argument pamphlet exists; arguments are attributed statements from legislators and a local party representative quoted by news outlets, two per side. The Mercury reports Gov. Spanberger restored voting rights to more than 60,000 formerly incarcerated Virginians this summer; not otherwise used.

Sources · 8

Researched 2026-10-19. Green citations are official government records.

  1. 1.Virginia General Assembly places constitutional amendments on same-sex marriage, abortion, voting rights following criminal convictions on the Nov. 2026 ballot · Ballotpedia News · 2026-01-21 Reference
  2. 2.Virginia voters to decide constitutional amendment on restoring felon voting rights · WDBJ7 · 2026-09-30 News report
  3. 3.Constitutional: The amendment that could restore formerly incarcerated Virginians' voting rights · Virginia Mercury · 2026-10-07 News report
  4. 4.Voters set to decide on three state constitutional amendments in Virginia · Rockbridge Report (Washington and Lee University) · 2026-10-15 News report
  5. 5.Proposed Constitutional Amendments to be voted on at the November 3, 2026 election (full text and Explanation for Voters) · Virginia Department of Elections Official record
  6. 6.November 2026 Proposed Constitutional Amendments and Local Referenda · Virginia Department of Elections Official record
  7. 7.Committees Prepare Campaign for Constitutional Amendments · VPM News · 2026-07-27 News report
  8. 8.Virginians will get to vote directly on whether to enshrine critical civil rights and civil liberties in our state constitution · ACLU of Virginia · 2026-01-16 Candidate's own words