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Expanded voting rights for former felons in Virginia set to begin next month

By Virginia Mercury

Tati Abu King, who was formerly incarcerated for a felony, has been waiting years to be able to vote again. A court ruling this year that found Virginia’s rights restoration process had violated a Civil War-era law means that this fall, he’ll be able to cast a ballot in congressional elections and weigh in on an amendment to cement voting protections for other ex-offenders.

“I want to set a precedent for my kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews. I can’t tell them to go out and vote if I can’t do it myself,” King said in a Q&A posted to Virginia’s American Civil Liberties Union website, the organization that represented him and others in the class action lawsuit challenging Virginia’s restoration of rights process. “I want to set an example. The world is in uproar and chaos right now. It’s about trying to make things right.”

A federal court ruled earlier this year that Virginia’s current disenfranchisement of anyone with felony convictions violates laws that required former Confederate states to guarantee voting rights for newly-emancipated Black residents.

The series of laws, called the Readmission Acts, had barred states from constitutionally disenfranchising people other than those convicted of crimes considered common law at the time. Under current law, however, all ex-felons lost voting rights unless they’ve petitioned a governor successfully.

The federal judge had originally given state officials a May 1 deadline to make sure that many of today’s crimes don’t strip voting rights. A new joint filing last week between King’s lawyers and the Office of Attorney General Jay Jones, grants an extension to June 1.

“We are committed to working with the Commonwealth to implement this historic expansion of voting rights and ensure newly eligible voters know their rights have been restored,” said ACLU attorney Vishal Agraharkar. “It’s past time for us to finally and formally right this wrong.”

Groundwork for a constitutional amendment

The legal back and forth represents a multiyear effort to ensure people who are done serving time can participate in the democratic process again.

King’s lawsuit challenged Virginia’s historic disenfranchisement by targeting former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who’d adjusted a once-automatic process to restore voting rights when someone finishes their sentence.

Two previous governors had streamlined that process before Youngkin switched the process to petition-based. With little clarity on what would garner a successful petition, restoration numbers dropped under his tenure.

Concurrently, state lawmakers advanced an effort to enshrine automatic restorations into the state’s constitution. Having cleared the legislature two years in a row, it will appear on statewide ballots this November — meaning King and others will be able to vote to change the constitution that had once disenfranchised them.

“Voting to me means that my voice is being heard,” King said. “It means that I am fulfilling my obligation as a citizen of this state and of this country.”

When Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the measure to advance the amendment to a ballot referendum earlier this year, she said: “When Virginians have paid their debt to society, they deserve to regain their right to vote.”

As state agencies work to formally define the list of crimes that may qualify or disqualify past offenders, June 1 will become the first day of eligibility for some to register to vote without first needing a governor’s approval. Details on how to register to vote are available on the State Department of Elections website.

Activist who protested outside Stephen Miller’s home won’t face state charges

By CBS News
An activist who protested outside the home of White House adviser Stephen Miller and distributed fliers containing his Virginia address will not face state charges, after a local prosecutor determined she did not commit a crime.In a 166-page court filing, the Arlington and Falls Church Commonwealth Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti said that she had reviewed evidence against Barbara Wien and found there was "nothing in the proceeds of the search warrant supports criminal prosecution" for violations of a state law that criminalizes using someone's identity or address as a means to coerce, intimidate or harass. Violations of that law constitute a misdemeanor."It would neither accomplish the ends of justice nor discharge the Commonwealth's ethical obligations of fair prosecution to initiate any charges," she wrote, adding that charging her for protesting against the Trump administration's policies also would likely violate her constitutionally protected free speech rights.Wien, a former college professor and longtime political activist in Arlington, Virginia who specializes in peace-building,  has been under a state investigation since last year, after she distributed fliers last August and September depicting Miller on a "Wanted" poster for "crimes against humanity."The flyers contained his Arlington address, and they also provided a QR code that urged people to demand a congressional investigation. A second flyer distributed in his neighborhood, meanwhile, referred to Miller as the "alt-right extremist behind Trump's most abhorrent policies, Project 2025 and your new neighbor in Arlington, Va."In making her determination not to bring charges, Dehghani-Tafti noted that the wanted flyer "called neither for any action at or near his residence, nor for any action by the viewer against Mr. Miller.""The sole call to action was to a traditionally and clearly protected political activity, encouraging residents to petition Congress to investigate Mr. Miller's actions based on the wanted flyer's allegations," she wrote.A White House spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment on the decision.Bradley Haywood, an attorney for Wien, said he admired Dehghani-Taft's careful effort to analyze the facts and the law in her filing. He said that such a move is important at a time when the federal government has been increasingly targeting political activists whose views do not align with the Trump administration."We have a… federal government that is trying to bring conspiracy and even RICO cases against activist groups," he told CBS.  "If you are looking to investigate someone for alleged threats of violence, maybe don't pick a literal professor of peace studies," he added. "Barbara's whole career has been in peace studies."Wien has separately been under a federal investigation in connection with the same incident, according to congressional documentation cited in the court filing, sources familiar with the matter and a witness who was approached by the FBI for an interview. To date, no federal charges have been filed.Shortly after those incidents, the Miller family moved out of their home and into military housing, CBS previously reported.Stephen Miller's wife, Katie Miller, reported the flyers to Arlington County Police Department on August 4, and said she believed the flyer listing their home address violated state law. About a month later, protesters appeared at the public intersection closest to the Millers' home and used sidewalk chalk to depict non-threatening political messages about issues such as immigration and transgender rights.Katie Miller also told police she saw Wien walk by once while she was on her porch, and that Wien made a gesture which seemed to convey "I'm watching you."As part of the state investigation, Virginia State Police reviewed evidence, including a message sent in April 2025 from a phone associated with Wien to a group that stated that Stephen Miller had moved to the neighborhood and accused him of being "the evil fascist behind family separation and deportation policies.""My Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) chapter in N. Virginia intends to make his life hell. We have set up a carefully vetted Signal group. Let me know if you are interested in being a part of our campaign," the message said.In other Signal chat messages, Wien also communicated about sidewalk chalk events, sending one image that read: "Got a message for Stephen Miller? Come (peacefully) CHALK IT OUT on the sidewalks of his neighborhood.""The conduct initially investigated cannot support a charge," Tuesday's court filing said. "In short, Ms. Wien is not likely to be found guilty and her speech is likely to be found to be constitutionally protected."The decision not to charge Wien is likely to spark fresh tensions with House Republicans, who since last year have demanded investigative documents from Dehghani-Tafti and accused her of "stymying the investigation" into the alleged threats against the Miller family.Miller has repeatedly pressed the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia to bring federal charges in the case, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News. But those efforts faltered after a federal magistrate judge twice rejected the FBI's attempt to obtain a search warrant for Wien's phone, according to a letter sent to Dehghani-Tafti from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and a source familiar with the matter.Dehghani-Tafti said the efforts by federal investigators to accompany state police on the execution of the search warrant "raised specific concerns regarding how federal authorities may have been involved (and appearing, potentially, to be attempting to use the Commonwealth, this Court, and the VSP to further a federal investigation—that had to date failed to demonstrate wrongdoing by even the lowest of legal standards of proof.)"After the FBI and Secret Service sought to accompany the state police when officers tried to seize Wien's cell phone, a state judge also separately prohibited local investigators from sharing any data collected from the phone with anyone, apart from the Commonwealth Attorney's Office.Since then, FBI agents have tried to interview several witnesses in the case, telling at least two of them they were visiting, "based on Barbara Wien's phone logs or, on review of their personal phone logs," the court filing says.Dehghani-Tafti wrote in her filing that she was not sure how the FBI could have obtained phone logs, since the court had restricted data sharing with the bureau and the state's narrow search warrant did not include data pertaining to those phone logs or contacts.She added that since she learned about the FBI's interviews, she has tried to obtain more information about how they may have accessed phone logs, but said neither the FBI nor the Virginia State Police have been willing to share their communications with one another.Dehghani-Tafti asked the court to issue an order telling the state police to destroy the records it obtained from its search of Wien's phone. She also asked for a court order requiring the custodians of the records to attest that they were not shared with any other outside agency.
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