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Virginia · November 3, 2026 general election · Statewide ballot measure

Question 3: what your vote means

Voting rights after a felony conviction. On every Virginia ballot. Official sources checked October 26, 2026.

Question 3 · Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

Voting rights after a felony conviction

Heads up: voting YES on this measure removes the current rule that a felony conviction ends the right to vote unless the Governor restores it.

Official ballot title (quoted exactly)

Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended (i) to provide for the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, (ii) to revise the qualifications of voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitled to vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically invested with the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and (iii) to update the existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentally incompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting?

Ballot question as published by the Virginia Department of Elections.

A YES vote means:

People convicted of a felony would lose the right to vote only while incarcerated and would get it back automatically on release, and a court would have to find that a person cannot understand the act of voting before taking away that right.

A NO vote means:

People convicted of a felony would continue to lose the right to vote for life unless the Governor restores it, and people found incapacitated by a court would continue to lose the right to vote.

What it would change

  • Who is affected: people with felony convictions and people under court findings of incapacity.
  • New right: the constitution would state a fundamental right to vote for all qualified persons.
  • Related rights: with the right to vote come the rights to serve on a jury, hold office, and be a notary public.
  • Fiscal impact: No official fiscal impact statement is published in the Department of Elections’ explanation for this amendment.

Who supports it and who opposes it

These lists come from official campaign filings (registered committees) and public endorsements, each linked to its source. They are not complete, and SaveYourState does not endorse anyone listed. Lists checked October 30, 2026.

Who supports it

Who opposes it

Official sources

SaveYourState is independent and nonpartisan, not a government site, and does not take positions on ballot measures. This explainer describes effects only, using the official ballot title, explanatory statement, full text, and fiscal impact statement. If anything here differs from those documents, the official documents control.