Gov. Spanberger Speaks At March on Washington

VIRGINIA MERCURY
Special to the New Journal and Guide

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger was one of a slate of leaders from around the country to speak at the commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington on Aug. 28.

The state’s first woman governor stressed the importance of voting and how her administration had worked to restore that right to 66,000 Virginians previously convicted of felonies, who “had served their time, returned home, and simply wanted the dignity of being able to fully participate in our democracy.”

“The right to vote is about more than a ballot — it is about whether we believe every person should have a voice in our democracy, and I do,” Spanberger said.

The governor called Virginia’s status as one of only three states to permanently disenfranchise former felons, with the governor the sole arbiter of restoration, “a shameful relic of Virginia’s Jim Crow past.”

Spanberger celebrated Virginia’s historic elections of the country’s first Black governor, the state’s first Black speaker of the House of Delegates, its first Black attorney general and its first Muslim lieutenant governor, saying all of it was possible “because of voting — because of people using their voices at the ballot box.”