By Jeremy M. Lazarus

A flawed list could keep hundreds of felons in Richmond and possibly thousands across the state from being properly registered to vote and having their votes counted in the upcoming June 14 primary election, the Free Press has learned.

At least 420 felons in Richmond were still waiting to be put on the voter rolls by Monday’s voter registration deadline even though they believe they are covered by Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s April 22 order restoring rights to 206,000 people who had completed their sentences and any probation or parole requirements.

The state Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office, which handles the restoration of rights issue, confirmed other jurisdictions are facing the same problem. People who have applied to register to vote cannot be verified as having their rights restored by the governor, state officials said. How many people fall into that category was not disclosed.

The issue came to light at the same time that the governor’s order faced a new challenge from Republican lawmakers and voters who are asking the Virginia Supreme Court to rule the governor’s action unconstitutional.

As of Tuesday, 4,935 felons whose rights were restored under the governor’s order had registered to vote. That’s a tiny fraction of the 206,000 people to whom the order applied, and only about 4.5 percent of more than 110,000 new people who have registered to vote since January, according to the state Department of Elections.

Overall, there are about 5.3 million registered voters in Virginia.

The deadline to register to vote in the June 14 Democratic and Republic primaries in the state was Monday, May 23.

Richmond Voter Registrar Kirk Showalter said at least 620 felons with newly restored rights filed voter registration applications before the May 23 deadline. But only about 300 could be verified as having their rights restored based on the information in the databases of the state Department of Elections and the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office.

About 50 people who filled out voter registration forms were found not to have had their rights restored, she said.

“We know people are anxiously waiting to hear from us,” Ms. Showalter said.

In an official guidance Monday, Edgardo Cortes, director of the Virginia Department of Elections, notified registrars that felons who believe their rights were restored and who “submitted a complete voter registration application … have met the applicable close of books deadline … and should be processed for participation in the June 14 primary election” even if confirmation of rights restoration eligibility had not yet been received from the secretary of the commonwealth.

Ms. Showalter said she ignored the directive. She said she has not followed the guidance because the law requires her to determine if a person is qualified to vote before entering his or her name on the voter roll. She said her plan is to send “each person whose restoration of rights had not been verified a letter explaining the delay.”

“We will also let them know that, if we have not received confirmation by Election Day, then they will be eligible to vote a provisional ballot,” she said.

However, those provisional ballots will not be counted if verification of their restored rights does not arrive before the Richmond Electoral Board certifies the primary results in Richmond, Ms. Showalter said. That’s the law, she said. Certification will take place on Tuesday, June 21, she said.

Secretary of the Commonwealth Kelly Thomasson said her office is doing its best to go through the names of people that Ms. Showalter and other voter registrars have provided to her office that do not show up as having had their rights restored.

More research has been required, she said, to verify their identities and ensure they qualify.

Secretary Thomasson said more people qualified to have their rights restored than on the original list. “We always said that the list of approximately 206,000 individuals was not comprehensive and that there were additional individuals who would be eligible and covered by the order,” she said.

That includes people who were convicted of felonies in other states and those convicted in federal courts, she said.

The list of 206,000 names was provided by the state Department of Corrections and the Virginia State Police, which has maintained criminal history records since 1938 based on state court felony convictions.

Secretary Thomasson said the original list also might have contained inaccuracies. She said some people might have used multiple Social Security numbers or aliases that are on their record, but were not uploaded on the list. Females might have used a married or maiden name at some point, she added, or felons previously might have used different dates of birth.

“Ms. Showalter has been sending us names of folks that have attempted to register who are not found in our Restoration of Rights database and are, therefore, not in VERIS,” the Election Department database, she said.

Researching the names may take a few weeks, she said.

“The timeline is longer now due to the number of requests that were received immediately after the governor signed the order,” Secretary Thomasson said.