Bob McDonnell’s Next Target: Felon Voting Rights

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldcross/2246225674/" target="_Denise Cross">eschipul</a> (Creative Commons)

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You can learn a lot about a political culture by how it approaches problems that don’t actually exist. For instance, while there’s little evidence to suggest that rehabilitated felons exert an undue influence on our political process, many states have made registering to vote into the rough equivalent of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

I

f you’re a former felon living in Mississippi, for example, you have to convince both houses of the state legislature to pass a bill specifically granting you the right to vote in state and local elections. Or, more likely, you won’t even try—which is kind of the point. In Virginia, felons can vote only with the approval of the governor.

But don’t worry, Virginia, because new Gov. Bob McDonnell is on the case. From the Washington Post:

McDonnell (R) will require the offenders to submit an essay outlining their contributions to society since their release, turning a nearly automatic process into a subjective one that some say may prevent poor, less-educated or minority residents from being allowed to vote.

The proposal is kind of absurdly brilliant: McDonnell’s plan to improve the subjective and burdensome application process for felons is to make the process even more subjective and burdensome. He’s also adding in a nifty little quasi-literacy test, which wins bonus creativity points for not only giving the governor more room to reject applicants, but also providing a disincentive to even apply. People act really funny when they’re asked to pay for something they’re used to getting for free (plastic bags, for instance); I imagine they act even funnier when you ask them to craft a five-paragraph essay.

I think it goes without saying that felons have all shown poor judgment at some point in their lives. But good judgment has never been a prerequisite for voting, nor should it: You can vote for “Lizard People” if you like. Heck, you can even vote for Bob McDonnell. I won’t judge.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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