Join high school and college students across Virginia to restore voting rights to more than 500,000 Virginians. Demand that the Virginia General Assembly pass Senate Joint Resolution 272 (SJ 272.)

#LetVirginiaVote (SJ 272) would restore voting rights to more than 500,000 formerly incarcerated people in Virginia. The bill would give a voice back to those who have unjustly been barred from participating in our democracy.

How to help pass this bill:

1. Sign this petition.
2. Share these posts on Instagram​, TikTok, and Twitter.
3. Join us for Action Mondays when we demand that our reps pass this bill.

What is the #LetVirginiaVote bill?

#LetVirginiaVote is a bill in the Virginia General Assembly (the state legislature) that fixes Article II, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution by removing the clause that states, “no person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote.” It also removes a section that bars individuals who have been deemed “mentally incompetent” from voting. The bill allows people who have paid their debt to society to participate in our democracy.

Who does the #LetVirginiaVote bill affect?

Minorities are disproportionately and unfairly affected by mass incarceration. Restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated people helps marginalized communities regain their voice and is the right thing to do. People who have served time should not be silenced forever.

What would the #LetVirginiaVote bill do?

The bill would bring Virginia voting rights into the 21st century. We currently have some of the most discriminatory voting laws in the country: Virginia is one of only a handful of states that permanently block formerly incarcerated people from the ballot box.

Who is leading this petition?

The Poll Hero Project is a youth-led, non-partisan, all volunteer organization dedicated to defending democracy and increasing access to voting. We founded Poll Hero in response to the massive poll worker shortage ahead of the 2020 election, which experts projected to be 250,000 people. In four months, we recruited more than 37,000 high school and college students to be poll workers. Our work has appeared in The New York Times, NPR, Fox News, and The Today Show. Led by our Virginia members, we’re now focused on passing pro-democracy legislation like #LetVirginiaVote.