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State Guides to Restoration of Voting Rights

The Power and Democracy program of Advancement Project is releasing a series of comprehensive state guides to assist formerly incarcerated persons seeking restoration of their voting rights. Along with a wealth of information about the voting rights restoration process, the handbooks also contain various application materials that one will need to complete the process. Additionally, the handbooks contain lists of relevant contact persons and places, as well as other useful supplemental information. To download a handbook in its entirety, please click on its title. Links to individual sections of each handbook are located below the title.

Access Denied: The Impact of Virginia’s Felony Disenfranchisement Laws
No single existing voting rights inequity seems a starker injustice than the plight of people with felony convictions. Felony disenfranchisement laws are state-level rules that strip voting rights from citizens who have been convicted of certain crimes. If you commit a crime, these laws say, you lose the vote. There are no federal guidelines about them, so their harshness varies from state to state. “Access Denied: The Impact of Virginia’s Felony Disenfranchisement Laws,” provides a snapshot of Virginia’s disenfranchisement scheme upon the commonwealth’s Black electorate in the twenty first century.

• Body of the Guide featuring:
  1. General Information
  2. Automatic Restoration of Voting Rights (Conditions and Procedures)
  3. Instructions on Application for a Pardon
• Attachment A featuring:
  1. Superior Courts of Delaware listing
• Attachment B featuring:
  1. Board of Pardons Application Cover Sheet

• Body of the Guide featuring:
  1. General Information
  2. Short Application for Non-Violent Convictions (Including Drug Possession)
  3. Long Application for Violent, Drug, Election Law, and All Other Offenses
  4. Petition to Court for Non-Violent Offenses
  5. Registering to Vote
• Attachment A featuring:
  1. Application for Restoration of Rights for Certain Non-Violent Offenders
• Attachment B featuring:
  1. Instructions for Completing the Long Application
  2. Application for Restoration of Civil Rights
  3. Letter of Petition Form
  4. Letter of Reference Form
• Attachment C featuring:
  1. Offenses for Which VA Courts Cannot Be Used to Restore Voting Rights
• Attachment D featuring:
  1. Circuit Courts of Virginia
• Attachment E featuring:
  1. Petition for Approval of the Right to Be Eligible to Register to Vote
  2. Virginia Voter Registration Application Form