Former felons head to the polls in Virginia with the future of rights restoration on the line

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — Driving through the rain from his office to the polls on Tuesday, 66-year-old Wali Bahar couldn’t help but reflect on the significance of the occasion — and not just because he was being trailed by an entourage of voting advocates and their cameras.

Bahar’s mother, born a slave in 1912 in Clarksville, Virginia, never learned to read or write. She never voted, Bahar said, because she was never educated.

In 2016, after serving more than three decades in prison, Bahar regained his voting rights and cast his first ballot. This would be his second time voting.

“I’m not nervous like I was the first time,” Bahar said from the passenger seat. “I’m ready to cast my vote in there, that’s for sure… I’m taking my place in society. I feel like I’m in this fight that other people put forth and died for many years ago.”

Last year, Bahar was one of tens of thousands of former felons who benefited from Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D) executive order restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions who completed their sentences. Though the state supreme court invalidated McAuliffe’s attempt to restore rights en masse, the governor decided to grant individual clemency to each person who qualified. Bahar was one of those people.

https://thinkprogress.org/virginia-former-felons-vote-a3d9318a7945/