RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – A Virginia man hoping to regain his voting rights is suing Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) in federal court over his administration’s changes to the state’s voting rights restoration process, claiming they violate the First Amendment.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in the Eastern District of Virginia by the Fair Elections Center on behalf of Gregory Williams, a Virginia resident who spent 19 years in prison and is waiting to learn if Youngkin will restore his voting rights, and the Richmond-based nonprofit Nolef Turns.
The suit comes in response to changes the Youngkin administration made to the voting rights restoration system, which the lawsuit argues violate the First Amendment because it “constitutes an unconstitutional arbitrary licensing scheme regulating the exercise of the right to vote.”