November 7, 2017

These Ex-Felons Are Psyched They Can Finally Vote Again

Virginia’s outgoing governor re-enfranchised at least 168,000.

Spellman Bernard Smith Jr., 78, sang "America the Beautiful" after voting in Norfolk, Virginia, last fall. Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot via AP

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As Virginians headed to the polls today to decide on their next governor, among them were some of the roughly 168,000 formerly incarcerated individuals who had their voting rights restored by outgoing Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat. (Of those, 42,000 were registered to cast ballots.)

This recent re-enfranchisement became a campaign issue last month after Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie released an ad slamming his rival, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, for pledging to continue McAuliffe’s policy of restoring voting rights to former felons who have paid their dues. Virginia is just one four states that permanently bars people from voting if they are convicted of a felony—only the governor can restore those rights.

Because Gillespie has pledged to maintain voting restrictions for anyone with a felony conviction, the rights of thousands of other incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people hinges on who wins this election. (President Donald Trump tweeted in support of Gillespie yesterday.) Huffington Post editor Sam Levine was on the ground in Virginia today and asked a series of people who had their rights restored what it meant for them to cast a vote today—in some cases for the first time. Their responses in the videos below may warm your heart.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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