State police investigate whether felons voted last November
Virginia State Police have launched a statewide investigation into possible illegal voting by felons in last November's election.
However, state police and election officials declined to give any indication of how many possible offenders are under investigation, so the extent of the problem could not be gauged yesterday. State police said that such an investigation is not unusual.
The investigation was prompted by questions raised by the recent indictment of two people in a Louisa County voter-fraud case, said Nancy Rodrigues, secretary of the State Board of Elections.
The board did research and compiled a list of people who might have voted illegally in November, then forwarded that list to state police.
State police will seek to determine whether anyone in fact voted illegally. If illegal voting appears to be the case, police will forward their findings to the appropriate commonwealth's attorney, said state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.
Rodrigues said the State Board of Elections receives felony-conviction data from the state police and forwards it to local registrars to use when deciding who should be registered, but Rodrigues said the process isn't perfect. It also is the voter's responsibility to follow the law, she said.
Richmond's registrar, J. Kirk Showalter, said she has alerted the board in the past when felons were registered and the State Board of Election's system failed to flag them. She came across one such person who actually voted in November. She said she hasn't done a thorough search to see how many people voted illegally.
Over the past year, Showalter has referred to city prosecutors five to 10 cases involving irregularities that raised concerns of voter fraud, said Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring. Prosecutors do not recall any recent case in which someone knowingly committed voter fraud.
Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or
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Reader Reactions
People with felony convictions are not, as a rule, the types who tend to vote. I cannot imagine that this is really widespread enough to warrant a major investigation.
With funding for law enforcement agencies being cut left and right, this seems like a terrible waste of resources by the State Police!
I am still praying for Virgina. This state is so oppressed and would do anything to keep individual’s from advancing.
A local radio station was airing the call for anyone to come and register to vote at various locations in teh Richmond area. I was present at a local fast food chicken location near the old fairgrounds when they approached someone and had them register. The person told them they had a criminal conviction that would not let them vote. The person from the local radio station told them it was OK, because the Govenor was issuing rights restorations very quickly. The gave them another form to file out, told them to mail it and keep a copy, if something came up just show the form and they were covered.
I personally know a felon who was encouraged to vote. because he was told no-one would figure it out.. He said he wouldn’t do it because he wasn’t going back to prison for something so stupid. He said it was a “telemarketer” phone call from a community org… but never told us who it was.
I would bet 100% they would find felons voted if they checked the results. Enough to change the outcome? maybe not.. but apparently some people were encouraged to break the law.
Maybe everyone should have to show a state ID and their voter registration card before they are allowed to cast a ballot! The idea that showing ID disenfranchises people is ridiculous, well except for the people who are not allowed to vote or trying to vote for a second, third, thousandth time!
Maybe this number of felons voting will improve now that Washington, D. C. is Chicago’s 51st Ward.
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