Spanberger voting-rights letters sent to dead felons amid ballot access push

Deceased Virginians with felony convictions are reportedly among those receiving voting-rights restoration letters under Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who announced in July that she had restored voting rights to 66,000 people with felony convictions.

The notices come as Virginia separately implements a federal court ruling that sharply narrowed which felony convictions can trigger disenfranchisement, while voters this fall will decide whether to amend the state constitution to automatically restore voting rights upon release from incarceration.

"I've been a lawyer for 27 years and in every minute of my career, when you were convicted of a felony, you lose your voting rights. The way you get those back is you have to petition the governor and then the governor can review your case and determine whether the civil rights of a convicted felon should be restored," Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson told Fox News Digital on Monday.

Anderson, who shared posts showing letters from Spanberger and her administration sent to families of deceased recipients, said the situation is "one or the other" — either Richmond is not vetting who receives the restoration notifications or its vetting is not thorough enough to catch deceased recipients.

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"The order specifically says that they've reviewed [each] case individually, right?"

He noted that Virginia has online voter registration and questioned whether an unscrupulous relative who received one of the notifications might try to register their dead relative to vote.

"These dead people clearly aren't petitioning the governor to get their civil liberties back... they're restoring every single felon's civil disabilities without anybody even asking. And that's concerning, especially when they're dead."

Virginia resident Howard "Skip" Lambert posted a July 1 restoration notice signed by Spanberger and an Aug. 31 notification from her administration addressed to a redacted relative, informing the recipient that their voting rights had been restored.

The July letter said that after the relative had been convicted and sentenced, Spanberger’s office "completed review of the particulars of the individual’s case."

Anderson pointed to that line as evidence of vetting.

Lambert’s letter went on to say the relative would have their civil rights — except for the ability to transport or possess firearms — restored effective July 1.

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In the ensuing letter from Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon-King, the relative was notified that Spanberger had restored their right to vote and serve on a jury and was encouraged to re-register to vote at the online "Citizen’s Portal" via a QR code.

Lambert wrote that he was upset by the mailings, saying the recipient was his daughter, who died in 2024. He also confirmed that she had a felony conviction.

"Interesting this letter arrives as early-voting begins... yet the provided official order is dated July 1," he said on Sept. 24. "Just because cash doesn't change hands doesn't mean the governor isn't trying to buy votes.

Reached by phone Monday, the Fredericksburg-area resident confirmed to Fox News Digital that the documents were authentic and that the recipient was his daughter.

"I do have a question of timing in the letter I believe my daughter voted in the previous election where it was Hillary and Donald Trump — because she had had her rights restored then," he said.

Around the time of that election, former Democratic Gov. Terence McAuliffe attempted a mass restoration but was rebuked by the Virginia Supreme Court, which ruled that he did not have the authority to take such an action affecting an estimated 206,000 Virginians, according to NPR.

Another woman, Peggie Young, posted a similar set of documents addressed to her "dear BFF, Peter Breton."

"I have his ashes. Is this perhaps how voter fraud begins. I'm so confused," she said, adding that she also received the letter only on Sept. 29.

Young could not immediately be reached.

Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, told Fox News Digital that Spanberger's purported vetting process appears to be inadequate:

"If the process is so thorough that they can't even tell who's alive and who's dead, how thorough is it?" Kilgore told Fox News Digital.

The federal case began in 2023 as King v. Youngkin, when disenfranchised Virginians sued then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other state officials, arguing that Virginia’s blanket felony ban conflicted with the federal Virginia Readmission Act of 1870.

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U.S. District Judge John Gibney Jr. ruled in January that Virginia could disenfranchise people only for 11 common-law felonies recognized in 1870. After rejecting the state’s effort to map those offenses onto a broader list of modern crimes, Virginia ultimately narrowed automatic disenfranchisement to murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

The Department of Elections is separately notifying roughly 235,000 Virginians whose convictions no longer disqualify them from voting. Those court-driven notices are distinct from the Spanberger restoration orders received by Lambert and Young, which state that the governor’s office reviewed each recipient’s case before restoring multiple civil rights.

Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger's office and ELECT for comment.