NORFOLK, Va. — A spokeswoman with the Department of Elections (ELECT) said the office is reviewing an error in the criminal records system that removed some previously convicted
ELECT officials said they received a monthly file from the Virginia State Police (VSP) containing felony evictions. This monthly file is from VSP's Central Criminal Records Exchange (CCRE). Each time a new charge is filed, workers update it in the system.
This means if you were convicted of a felony, you were listed in the system, which made you lose your right to vote as part of Virginia law. If you had your voting rights restored following your conviction, you would then be allowed back on the roll.
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In the 2022 report, the Department of Elections reported more than 4,000 voters lost their rights because of felony convictions. In the 2023 report, the department reported the removal of more than 17,000 people from the rolls.
"The significant increase in cancellations from previous years can be attributed to the identification and correction of a coding error within VERIS, which accounted for 10,558 felons being removed from the voter list," the report stated. "These were individuals who had their rights restored following a felony conviction, and then were convicted of a new felony and were not subsequently removed from the voter list."
Up until recently, the Central Criminal Records Exchange would categorize any felony probation violation as a new felony conviction for that individual filed in the system. Once any charge(s) are adjudicated in court, the disposition is then electronically uploaded to the CCRE by the clerk of the court and added to the relevant criminal history record, according to VSP.
This created an error for previously convicted felons who had their rights restored. If they had a probation violation, even a technical violation, VSP said the system would categorize them as having a new felony conviction, even though it's not accurate.
Department of Elections relies on this system, so because of this technical error, some previously convicted felons who had their rights restored...had them taken away again.
13News Now reached out to the Department of Elections about this issue. A spokeswoman sent the following statement:
"As part of the list maintenance process, The Department of Elections (ELECT) received a monthly file from the Virginia State Police (VSP) containing felony convictions. ELECT was recently informed that the files received from VSP may contain probation violation convictions. ELECT immediately arranged a meeting with VSP to discuss concerns raised around the classification of felony convictions.
ELECT has asked VSP to do analysis of their data and identify individuals who may have been canceled in error. Once that data is received, ELECT will send those names to registrars to have those voters registrations reinstated immediately. VSP has already corrected the batch file sent to ELECT on a monthly basis to ensure it no longer contains probation violation convictions."
Shawn Weneta, a Policy Strategist with American Civic Liberties Union of Virginia, said his office received a large number of calls from people who realized they lost their access to voting again.
"We're trying to get information to find out exactly how many people have been impacted. We believe it is thousands," Weneta said. "There's so many variables of how many people have technical violations, how many also have a new felony. Also, even if we just 'X' out those people who have technical violations, how many of them are actually registered voters on the roll?"
Weneta called this problem upsetting as Virginians enter week two of early voting, especially at a time when Virginia has a lot at stake with the upcoming election.
"That is a problem and it certainly brings a lot of concern to a lot of Virginians of all stripes politically," Weneta said. "And there's critical issues moving forward as we sort of move in the General Assembly session into a full budget from Gov. Youngkin, it's important people are not only on the rolls that should be, but also know they're eligible to vote and know they're not being used as pawns on a board."
A spokeswoman for Virginia State Police told 13News Now at the request of the Virginia Department of Elections, and after consulting with the Office of the Attorney General, "the monthly CCRE report no longer contains felony probation violation charges to not inadvertently disqualify individuals whose rights were previously restored by the former Governor."
The spokeswoman added, "this incident has identified inconsistencies in the Code of Virginia and the applicable case law regarding probation violations."
13News Now also reached out to Governor Glenn Youngkin's office about this concern. Youngkin's spokeswoman sent us the following statement:
“When the Governor’s office became aware of the inconsistencies regarding the misclassification of probation violations as felonies, as had been the process in previous administrations, he asked for VSP to correct the process and ordered a review. The Governor is committed to ensuring those that are eligible can vote and those affected will have their registration reinstated.”