Virginia is for Lovers, Sort of

Okay, not so much lovers, but we’re really friendly now to sex offenders.

So reports the Washington Post:

Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s sweeping order to restore voting rights to ex-felons may have had another unintended consequence: giving the right to vote to at least 132 sex offenders who have finished their sentences but remain locked up because they have been deemed too dangerous to release.

In Virginia, such individuals can be sent through a civil court proceeding to the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation in Nottoway County, southwest of Richmond.

Nottoway Commonwealth’s Attorney Terry J. Royall said Wednesday that 176 of the center’s 370 residents are at the facility only because they have been civilly committed. Under the order issued by McAuliffe (D), Royall said, they can regain the right to vote, run for public office or serve on a jury.

Here’s some more data to consider:

1. This means that there are 132 sexually violent predators eligible to run for the school board in Nottaway County.
2. The Governor doesn’t get to “interpret” his criteria differently when it becomes politically inconvenient. These individuals had their rights restored and they are in the database to prove it.
3. Even IF the Governor didn’t mean to restore their rights, 132 of them are listed in the database — which brings the total number of known errors to 142. How many more are there?

Well done, Terry.