A Virginia Republican lawmaker is calling for an independent investigation after a constituent’s dog, which died five years ago, received an official certificate restoring its voting and jury-service rights from Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office just days before the midterm elections.
Del. Tom Garrett released a video on Facebook on Friday showing the document, which was addressed to “Biscuit Rigsby.” Biscuit was a beagle-hound mix who belonged to one of Garrett’s constituents.
The certificate identifies Biscuit as a previously convicted felon and states that the executive reviewed the case before restoring the recipient’s civil rights.
“About a month ago, Governor Spanberger was told dead Virginians were getting their voting rights restored, along with a QR code that put them one scan away from a mail-in ballot,” Garrett said in the video.
Spanberger’s office pushed back hard on the claim.
“Of course we did not restore the rights of a dog,” a spokesperson said, adding that the certificate was tied to an individual with a date of birth and Social Security number.
Garrett is demanding an independent audit of how the administration restores rights to convicted felons, and he insisted the issue is not a partisan one.
The dog’s certificate is only the latest embarrassment for the Spanberger administration’s restoration program. Earlier this month, the governor acknowledged her team was looking into reports that restoration notices had been sent to people who were already dead.
In one case, a Lynchburg woman named Peggie Young received a notice addressed to her longtime partner, Peter Breton, who died nearly a decade ago. Another case in Chesapeake, dubbed the “Betty No Last Name” controversy, raised questions about the identity of a purported felon whose rights were reportedly restored.
Spanberger has blamed part of the problem on government databases that may flag a person as having lost civil rights after a felony conviction without carrying up-to-date death records. She has also stressed that restoring someone’s rights does not automatically register them to vote, and that casting a ballot on behalf of another person, living or dead, is a felony.
In July, Spanberger announced she had restored voting rights to 66,085 Virginians with felony convictions. Her administration later said that total had climbed to 100,000.
That’s a dramatic shift from former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who restored the voting rights of fewer than 10,000 felons over four years and required each person to apply individually. Youngkin has criticized the new approach, saying his office never restored rights to dead people because it reviewed every single name.
Virginia is one of only a handful of states where felons cannot regain their voting rights without action by the governor.
The controversy comes as early voting is underway in the Commonwealth, where voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that would make the restoration of voting rights automatic for felons who have completed their sentences.
