Restoring voting rights in Virginia, with fish as the bait

Virginia is the only state that permanently bans all ex-felons from voting unless they receive an executive pardon. Richard Walker uses his nonprofit – and cooking skills – to help other former felons win back their voting rights 

By Cianna Morales

WHRO

Richard Walker toiled over a sizzling deep fryer, dropping breaded fish into the hot  oil on a late summer afternoon. People lined up at a park shelter in Richmond’s Gilpin Court public housing complex, waiting for a fish dinner — and also getting an election message from Walker.

Walker’s mission was to get people ready to vote in the upcoming election — by helping people with prior felony convictions check their voting status or apply to have their voting rights restored.

“Fish brings out the best in people,” he said. “It at least brings people out.” 

Virginia is the only state that permanently suspends a person’s voting rights and other civil liberties after a felony conviction, regardless of the crime or completion of their sentence. Other states with strict restrictions restore rights depending on the type of felony conviction

Under Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, people with a felony conviction must apply to the governor’s office, which decides on a case-by-case basis to restore voting rights. 

The Richmond community event was a block party and voter mobilization effort all at once. Walker’s organization, Bridging the Gap in Virginia, was joined by booths with information about registration and local politicians campaigning among residents of one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. 

People waited in long, snaking lines to pick up fried fish dinners. Kids played basketball on the court next door. Groups from the neighborhood were drawn by the food, music and social activities. 

Several people with felony convictions approached Walker and his colleague, Charles “Blake” Deyhle, about their voting status. Some had automatically regained their voting rights under previous governors. Deyhle looked up residents’ names on the Secretary of the Commonwealth website to check their registration status. He had some fill out applications to start the process of restoration. 

A restoration of rights form that Walker used to check a former convict’s voting rights status. Photo by Cianna Morales/WHRO

Tens of thousands of former felons had their rights restored after serving their sentences under previous governors’ administrations, but many do not know it, Walker explained. 

Virginia’s history of suspending felons’ civil liberties dates back to the 1902 state constitution that allows the governor to decide whose rights should be restored. Voter restoration saw a bipartisan revival in more recent years. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell initiated a policy of restoring rights for people with non-violent offenses in 2010. He restored rights to around 8,000 people during his term. 

Democratic governors Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam picked up the pace over the next eight years, restoring rights to roughly 172,000 and 169,000 people respectively. McAuliffe began restoring rights regardless of a person’s conviction — reasoning that a judge determines a person’s sentence. McAuliffe also tried to restore rights to 206,000 people by executive order, but the effort was rejected by the Virginia Supreme Court, which found the governor had exceeded his authority. 

Youngkin rolled back his predecessors’ policy of automatic restoration. Many advocates — including Walker — say it’s unclear who gets their rights restored and why under Youngkin’s process. One thing that is clear: Youngkin’s rate of restoration has drastically slowed down. He re-enfranchised about 6,500 voters in 2022 and 2023, according to reports submitted to the General Assembly. 

Earlier this summer, a judge acknowledged Youngkins’ process might not be transparent, but deemed it legal. 

Walker, 66, got involved in voter restoration work and advocacy after serving a prison sentence. 

He grew up in East Orange, New Jersey, before moving to Virginia for college. A drug addiction when he was in his 30s led to his arrest and, eventually, to a two-year prison sentence for violating his probation. 

“I was released in 2005, and that’s when I discovered and found out, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, if you're a convicted felon, you lose your right to vote, you lose your right to be on a jury, you lose your right to be a public notary, and you lose your right to run for public office,” Walker said.

One memory from childhood that sticks with Walker was going with his mother and grandmother to the polls. He was raised with the knowledge that when he turned 18, he would be voting. It was a right that was hard-won for Black people in the Civil Rights movement, protested and fought for by his older relatives. 

Learning his civil rights had been revoked caused a wrenching in his gut, Walker said.  “I became angry, and then that’s when I started advocating.” 

He founded Bridging the Gap in Virginia in 2009, and had his own rights restored in 2012. Since then, he has voted, served on a jury and become a public notary. He ran for the House of Delegates in 2021 and 2023. 

In addition to working on voter restoration, Walker advocates for incarcerated people while they are in prison. He also helps people find transitional housing when they leave prison and offers job training and certification in solar panel installation. 

Civil service is “selfless service without looking for accolades and awards,” Walker said. 

At the end of the fish fry, Walker and Deyhle had a tidy stack of paper applications with “Rights Restored” jotted across the top.  

“What I do doesn’t normally turn into a paycheck,” Walker said. “What I do has an impact on a lot of people without me getting paid. Civil service, any type of service to your community, helps the longevity of the community to exist, helps the flourishing, thriving of a community.”

Reach Cianna Morales at Cianna.Morales@whro.org