The Crown Jewel of American Liberties Belongs to the People
Ronald Reagan once called the right to vote “the crown jewel of American liberties” and insisted that no American’s vote should be denied, diluted, or defiled.
A few months ago I stood outside a polling place in Rockingham County on Election Day, watching neighbors walk in while I remained outside. I had completed my sentence ordered by the court for a felony charge. I had accepted full responsibility for the harm my decisions caused, finished every term of supervision, paid what I owed, and rebuilt a law-abiding life. Yet under Virginia law I still could not cast a ballot. The right to vote, the civic act that defines membership in the political community, remained subject to the discretion of whoever happened to occupy the Governor’s Mansion.
On November 3, 2026, Virginians will decide Question 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that would change that system. The ballot asks whether the Constitution should be amended so that a person convicted of a felony is automatically invested with all political rights, including the right to vote, upon release from incarceration or completion of a sentence ordered by the court. The amendment establishes a fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth. Under the Virginia Constitution as it stands, the Governor alone holds the power to restore voting rights.
Restoration under the amendment does not erase the conviction, expunge the record, cancel restitution, terminate supervision, or lift public-safety restrictions such as firearm prohibitions. Those consequences remain. What changes is the constitutional default: political citizenship returns by operation of law once the state ends the period of physical confinement, rather than remaining contingent on the changing standards of successive executives.
Fundamental political rights should not fluctuate with the identity of the governor. A rule-bound democracy requires that access to the franchise and related political rights be governed by predictable constitutional standards, not by individualized executive judgment that can shift dramatically every four years. The amendment does not claim that every returning citizen has been fully rehabilitated; it simply removes the permanent disability from those no longer incarcerated and places the decision beyond the reach of any single officeholder.
More than 260,000 Virginians currently live under the lifetime ban unless the Governor acts. The numbers restored under recent administrations illustrate the problem: hundreds of thousands under one philosophy, fewer than ten thousand under another. That disparity is not a feature of consistent constitutional government.
The choice before Virginians is institutional. Should release from incarceration restore political citizenship through a uniform constitutional rule, or should the Commonwealth continue to allow governors to determine eligibility through changing, individualized standards? Virginia’s answer will matter beyond just the Commonwealth. It will signal whether American political rights are governed by clear legal boundaries or by the discretionary power of whoever holds the highest executive office.
I humbly and respectfully ask every Virginian to vote YES on Question 3 because the crown jewel of American liberties should belong to the people under law, not to the temporary occupant of the Governor’s Mansion. Vote yes so people like me have our civic right to vote restored.
“The right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties, and we will not see its luster diminished” -President Ronald Reagan
Christopher Aldana is a Virginia author, paralegal, certified professional life coach, and mental health coach who lives in the Shenandoah Valley. After completing his sentence for decisions that caused real harm, he writes and speaks about accountability, rehabilitation, and the hard work of returning to full citizenship. His book From Crime Scene to Community Return draws directly from that experience. He remains unable to vote under Virginia’s current system.
Christopher Aldana is a Virginia author, certified professional life coach, and mental health coach who lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.