RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia NAACP is suing Governor Glenn Youngkin.
The group claims the Youngkin administration is not being transparent in its decision to restore voting rights to certain convicted felons.
This comes after the NAACP filed a Freedom of Information Act and said the governor did not comply.
The NAACP said the lack of transparency is discriminating against Black Virginians, but Governor Glenn Youngkin said his office did hand over hundreds of documents to the Virginia NAACP.
“This was an unfortunate next step after we had really made meaningful attempts to be collaborative and cooperative through this whole process,” said Youngkin.
The court appearance took place in Richmond.
Later Tuesday evening, the Virginia NAACP released the following statement:
“Virginia’s returning citizens, and all Virginians, deserve to know the truth about Governor Youngkin’s rights restoration process, and why he has restored voting rights to only a fraction of those eligible. Virginia NAACP has worked tirelessly over the past seven months to obtain public records—records which it is entitled to under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“VFOIA”)—in order to shine a light on this process, which has a discriminatory impact on Black Virginians and other Virginians of color. It is outrageous that Governor Youngkin continues to fight tooth and nail to withhold key information about this process—including even what information he considers when determining whether to restore an individual’s sacred right to vote.
We are disappointed in Judge Marchant’s limited ruling today that the Governor’s restoration of rights database is exempt from production under VFOIA, even in partially redacted form removing applicants’ personal identifying information. This database contains key information, including the information collected about each applicant that informs the rights restoration decision. Moreover, the evidence presented today shows that this database is also used for other purposes—such as communications with applicants and other state agencies—and therefore is disseminated outside the Governor’s Office, making at least these portions of the database subject to public disclosure under VFOIA.
We will continue to fight to vindicate our right to review these public records, and again call on Governor Youngkin to make public the complete criteria he uses to determine whether to restore an individual’s right to vote, and to commit to a process that fairly and promptly restores the rights of all eligible returning citizens.”
Virginia NAACP