Thursday, January 7: 6:00 p.m. there will be a rally in Richmond for the restoration of voting rights for felons. (Virginia is one of only two states that do not have an automatic restoration provision). The rally is to encourage Governor Kaine to issue a blanket restoration by executive order before the end of his administration.

George,

Recently I wrote the governor urging him to do this. My reasoning was that not only was it the right thing to do, but that this could put the new Republican governor in an awkward position if he was to then take away civil rights by undoing what the governor did, especially if McDonnell has national ambitions. This would also bring both state and national attention to this deplorable situation. The public could/should be educated about the issue. This was a consensus study question last year in the League of Women Voters, which is how I became aware of this issue. Several churches have passed resolutions supporting restoration of felon civil rights at some point. Even so, Rob Bell has not been persuaded that this should be done.

I don’t think signing such an executive order will harm the governor [Kaine] if he has his own future aspirations, especially at the national level. And – it is the right thing to do!

Sallie Kate Park (Electronic mail, January 2, 2010)