McAuliffe had issued a sweeping executive order in April that affected 206,000 ex-offenders in the state.
In a 4-3 ruling, the state's justices said under the state constitution, McAuliffe didn't have the authority for such a proclamation.
[...] Nothing stops the governor from granting rights to felons on an individual basis, but the justices said it was unconstitutional to do it through a blanket order.
[...] Under McAuliffe's order, the restoration of rights only extended to felons who have finished serving their terms — anyone in prison, or on supervised probation or parole, was still barred from voting. The order also granted felons the right to serve on juries and become a notary.
[...] He also noted that most states allow felons who have completed their terms to vote — Iowa, Kentucky and Florida are the only other exceptions.
[...] "Republicans suspect the real motive for McAuliffe's order is political," [NPR's] Pam [Fessler] reported [earlier this month]. "The governor is a close ally of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who could benefit from more African-American voters if the race in Virginia is tight. McAuliffe denied that was his reason for issuing the order."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @01:31AM
> Blacks vote for Democrats at around 85-95%,
What proportion of black felons vote?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday July 25 2016, @02:13AM
I don't know. If there is data, it won't be completely reliable since some states don't consistently notify [washingtonexaminer.com] felons that they can vote again, or require an application to be submitted. I can tell you that a greater proportion of blacks than whites voted in the 2012 U.S. elections. We'll see how well that holds up with Hillary instead of Barack.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]