Advancement Project Airs Public Service Announcement Urging People With Felony Convictions in Virginia to Take Advantage of Expedited Application Review Process

The Commonwealth of Virginia is one of only two states (Kentucky is the other) that permanently takes away the voting rights of all individuals with felony records, barring personal intervention by the Governor. The good news is Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has pledged to expedite the review process for those petitioners eligible for the short form wishing to have their voting rights restored in time to register to vote in order to participate in the historic presidential election in November 2008. For the next several weeks Advancement Project will be airing a public service announcement (PSA) on radio stations throughout the Commonwealth reminding would be voters of the August 1 deadline to get their applications in to the Governor.

In 2005, Advancement Project launched the Virginia Clemency Campaign Initiative with four key objectives:

• To assist thousands of formerly incarcerated individuals in Virginia with successfully regaining their voting rights
• To create an upsurge in applications for clemency, calling attention to the injustice of the state’s disenfranchisement law
• To mobilize public and political support for enactment of new laws providing for automatic restoration of voting rights
• To create an effective organizing model that can be used by other re-enfranchisement campaigns across the country.

Through this initiative, we raised public awareness about the restoration process for individuals and made considerable progress towards advancing an automatic restoration policy through a multi-faceted strategy that includes on-the-ground organizing and outreach, a comprehensive media campaign, radio tours, public appearances and public events sponsored by our partners.