(The Center Square) – Virginia voters will decide three proposed changes to the state Constitution this fall.
The questions deal with reproductive freedom, marriage and voting rights for people convicted of felonies. All three will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The General Assembly approved each amendment in two consecutive sessions, as required before a proposed constitutional amendment can go before voters.
The first question would add a fundamental right to reproductive freedom to the Virginia Constitution.
It would protect decisions involving prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion, miscarriage management and fertility care. The amendment would allow Virginia to regulate abortion during the third trimester but would require exceptions when a physician determines an abortion is needed to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or when the fetus is not viable.
Virginia’s Constitution currently does not explicitly guarantee a right to reproductive freedom.
The second question deals with marriage.
Virginia’s Constitution still contains language defining marriage as between one man and one woman, although that provision has not been enforceable since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015.
The amendment would remove that language and establish a right for two adults to marry regardless of sex, gender or race. It would also require Virginia to recognize lawful marriages equally.
The third question would change when people convicted of felonies can vote.
Under the amendment, a person convicted of a felony would be unable to vote while incarcerated but would automatically regain voting rights upon release. It would also establish a fundamental right to vote in Virginia and change the Constitution’s language concerning people who lack the capacity to understand the act of voting.
The current system has already changed this year. A federal court ruled in January that, under the Virginia Readmission Act, people can lose their voting rights only for felony offenses that correspond to felonies recognized at common law in 1870.
The Virginia Department of Elections says people whose offenses do not fall into those categories may register without first having their rights restored by the governor. People convicted of offenses that do correspond to those common-law felonies still need gubernatorial restoration. Some cases require additional review by the attorney general’s office.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced July 31 that her administration had restored voting rights to 66,085 Virginians since she took office in January.
Polling earlier this year found majority support for two of the amendments.
A Wason Center survey at Christopher Newport University found 66% of registered Virginia voters supported a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive rights, while 64% supported automatically restoring voting rights after a prison sentence.
The survey was conducted Jan. 13-20 among 807 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Early in-person voting for the Nov. 3 election begins Sept. 18 and runs through Oct. 31.
This post was originally published on The Center Square.
