The following statement may be attributed to ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Claire Guthrie Gastañaga:
"The court’s decision is disappointing but we remain committed to the principled goal of restoring voting and other rights to ex-offenders. We fully expect Gov. Terry McAuliffe to follow through on his promise to individually restore the rights of the 206,000 Virginians who were to have been affected by his executive order. He should start with the 11,662 people who in good faith followed the process they were instructed to follow. Moving forward, we call upon House Speaker William Howell to begin the process of putting a measure before the legislature to give Virginia voters the choice to amend the state constitution so that in the future no one will be forever stripped of the most basic of their civil rights. This would be a far more fair and democratic path than continuing to stubbornly refuse to allow ex-offenders to fully return to society."