Three constitutional amendments will be on the Nov. 3 ballot
Virginians will have an opportunity to vote on three constitutional amendments in November: to protect reproductive rights, voting rights, and marriage equality.
Reproductive rights
Virginia’s Constitution currently does not explicitly give citizens a right to reproductive freedom, nor does it explicitly protect or prohibit certain kinds of healthcare procedures or decisions.
Ballot question #1 asks voters whether the Constitution should be amended to:
- “protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care;
- protect doctors, nurses, and patients from being punished for these decisions;
- and allow for restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy except when the patient’s health is at risk, or the pregnancy cannot survive.”
The proposed amendment would add to the Virginia Constitution’s Bill of Rights the fundamental right to make and carry out decisions about a person’s own reproductive care with only certain, specific exceptions.
The proposed amendment specifically allows the state government to pass laws to regulate abortion care in the third trimester of pregnancy, but requires any such law to allow for abortion when it is medically needed to protect the life and health of the pregnant person or because the fetus is not viable.
Marriage equality
Ballot question #2 would remove from the Virginia Constitution’s Bill of Rights the prohibition on marriages between persons of the same sex or gender.
The proposed referendum asks:
“Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to
- remove the ban on same-sex marriage;
- affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and
- require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?”
If passed, the amendment would require the state to recognize and treat equally under the law any lawful marriage between two adult persons, regardless of the sex, gender, or race of either person. It would prohibit the state from denying a marriage license to two adult persons because of their sex, gender, or race.
Related story: Rep. Beyer wins the Democratic Primary
Marriages, civil unions, and other legal relationships with the same rights, benefits, and effects of marriage between persons of the same sex or gender are currently prohibited under Virginia’s Constitution.
This prohibition is no longer enforceable, however, as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. If the Supreme Court overturns that decision, the prohibition in the state Constitution would be enforceable again.
Voting rights
The third constitutional amendment would automatically restore convicted felons’ right to vote once they are no longer incarcerated.
Virginia’s Constitution currently provides that a person convicted of a felony loses the right to vote for the rest of their life unless the governor takes administrative action to restore that specific person’s right to vote.
A person determined by a court to be incapacitated, regardless of the underlying issue, loses the right to vote under the state’s Constitution. Only a court can restore the person’s right later.
Ballot question #3 asks:
“Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended:
- to provide for the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth;
- 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
- 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?”
Early voting for the Nov. 3 election starts Sept. 18 at the Fairfax County Government Center and Oct. 22 at the satellite locations, including the Mason Government Center and Thomas Jefferson Library.