George Hawkins was imprisoned when he was 17 and served a 13-year prison sentence until May 2023. Now 32 years old, he is one of more than 300,000 residents in the Southern state of Virginia who have been disenfranchised — or stripped of the right to vote — because of a prior felony conviction.

"It's unfair," Hawkins said on a sunny autumn day while sitting in a cafe in Virginia's capital, Richmond. "I'm a part of my community, of society. I pay taxes. I do everything that a citizen does and obey the people who govern me. But I have no say in the world that I live in."

His voice was calm; he spoke like a man who has repeated these lines over and over again.

On November 5, voters will head to the polls to elect the US president. They will also decide on whom they want to represent them in Congress and on their city councils, on who holds the highest state offices and and who sits on their local school boards.

Across the United States, people who have been previously convicted of felonies are barred from taking part in this democratic ritual — even after they've completed their sentences.

"These men and women go from being locked up to being locked out," said Christa Ellison, executive director of the organization Freedom Over Everything, which advocates for the rights of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in Virginia.

Ellison and Hawkins were meeting for breakfast with fellow activist Hassan Shabazz.

'Like a monarch'

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)estimates that US states bar a total of 4.6 million people from voting because of prior convictions. Each state has its own law on who stays "locked out" of the process when their fellow citizens head to the polls.

In states such as California and Minnesota, only currently incarcerated people are not allowed to vote. People who have completed their sentences may return to the polls.

Virginia is the state with the strictest regulations. Anybody with a felony conviction is generally barred from voting. People who have completed their sentences and paid related fines can submit a request to the governor, currently Republican Glenn Youngkin, who decides on a case-by-case basis whose voting rights will be reinstated.

In 2023, a spokesperson said Youngkin "firmly believes in the importance of second chances for Virginians who have made mistakes but are working to move forward as active members of our citizenry." At the time of publication for this article, Youngkin's office had yet to respond to DW's latest request for comment on his current position on voting rights.

Just a few days after completing his sentence for attempted murder, Hawkins requested the reinstatement of his voting rights. "I was denied so fast I didn't know what was happening," he said. "As soon as I got that, I applied again. This time it said I was deemed ineligible."

Hawkins took the matter to court, but his case was rejected this August. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. ruled that, though Youngkin's method of receiving petitions and deciding how to rule on them without any explanation is intransparent, "much like a monarch," it does not violate any laws.

No clear criteria

Only Youngkin knows what determines who will be allowed to vote again and who will not. Petitions are rejected without any further justification. 

"We can make educated guesses," Chris Kaiser, policy director at the ACLU Virginia, told DW. "People who committed violent crimes are maybe less likely" to get their voting rights back, Kaiser said. "But there are no clear criteria."

When it comes to reinstating voting rights following a prison sentence, several states have laws that differentiate between violent and nonviolent felonies. Hawkins said that was unfair. "Behind the wall we're all the same," he said. "We eat the same food. We use the same toilets. You don't know what the next guy is in for unless you ask him. And his mother cried the same way my mother cried."

Kaiser is equally unimpressed by this distinction. "Some crimes are so egregious that people serve life in prison. As for the others — this isn't the Middle Ages anymore," he said. "When people have paid their debt, they can rejoin society."

He said the likelihood for recidivism was far lower when formerly incarcerated people feel welcome in their communities and are able to take part in social life. Everybody can benefit from that.

Fighting the law

Shabazz was successful in his effort to once again becoming a full voting member of society after he was released in 2022 following 23 1/2 years in prison. In prison, Shabazz became what is colloquially referred to as a jailhouse lawyer, informally assisting fellow incarcerated people in matters of the law. He is also a licensed paralegal.

He had his rights restored at a time when it was relatively easier for formerly incarcerated people to do so. Ralph Northam, Virginia's Democratic governor from 2018 to 2022, had determined that all previously incarcerated people who had completed their prison sentences would have their rights restored.

"I went home, went on a website, logged in and put my name in the system," the 48-year-old said. "And then I got my rights back."

Youngkin made reinstatement more difficult after being elected.

A racist law?

About one in 10 voting-age Black people in Virginia are disenfranchised because of previous convictions.

Currently 5.3% of Black Americans are disenfranchised by such laws — a rate 3.5 times higher than that of non-Black Americans, Kaiser said.

"That distorts our entire electorate," he said. "Black Americans don't commit crimes at rates higher than white Americans. There is an unfair racial disparity in our criminal justice system."

Hawkins, his quiet voice growing louder, said the state of Virginia's refusal to reinstate his voting rights had sent him a clear message: "Society is still saying, 'We don't want you to have a say, George. You're still not welcome, you still don't matter.'"

"I never voted — ever," Hawkins said. "I want the right, the option as an adult to have a say. I do matter."

This article was originally written in German.