The right to vote is the most powerful tool a free citizen holds. Not a privilege handed down by the ruling class – a right, earned by blood and defended by generations who understood what self-governance actually costs. But that right only means something if the system behind it is honest. When voter rolls go uncleaned, when mail-in ballots float through a process with fewer safeguards than a library card application, the entire foundation cracks.

And right now, something is rotting in the Commonwealth of Virginia. What has emerged over the past week isn’t some minor clerical footnote. It’s the kind of scandal that should end a political career – and frankly, it should.

From The Post Millennial:

Multiple examples have surfaced on social media accusing Democrat Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger of restoring the voting rights of felons and encouraging them to register for mail-in ballots – despite their having been dead for years.

The alleged scandal first came to light with a post showing a recent letter received by the family of Peter Alan Breton. “I am pleased to inform you that Governor Abigail D. Spanberger has restored your right to vote, to become a notary public, to serve on a jury, and to hold public office,” said the letter, dated Aug. 31, from Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon King.

Dead men tell no tales – but apparently they can register to vote

Peter Breton died in 2016. His obituary is public record. Yet a full decade after his passing, Governor Spanberger’s office mailed his family a cheerful letter restoring his voting rights – complete with a QR code so he could register online for a mail-in ballot. Thoughtful touch, that.

Breton wasn’t alone. An X user named @SpiritualistTam chimed in with her own story: “I got the exact same letter for my husband who died in 2013!” She confirmed she’s a Virginia resident and kept the letter. A third case surfaced involving the daughter of Howard Skip Lambert – a convicted felon who died in 2024, yet somehow still merited the governor’s personal attention and a fresh restoration order.

Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson spotted a devastating detail in the paperwork. The official orders state that the governor had “completed review of the particulars of the individual’s case.” Anderson broke down the only two possible explanations. Either Spanberger’s team reviewed these cases, discovered the people were dead, and restored their rights anyway. Or – perhaps worse – the orders are rubber-stamped boilerplate from an illegal mass restoration where nobody reviewed anything at all.

Pick your poison. Both are disqualifying.

A playbook Virginia Democrats keep dusting off

Here’s the thing: Virginia has been down this road before. In 2016, the state Supreme Court ruled in Howell v. McAuliffe that then-Governor Terry McAuliffe violated the constitution by attempting to mass-restore voting rights for over 200,000 felons. The law is unambiguous. Virginia governors cannot do blanket restorations. Period.

McAuliffe’s workaround? He individually signed restoration orders for roughly 173,000 felons before leaving office in 2018. Now Spanberger has restored rights to an estimated 66,000 felons since taking power in January. Dead recipients on that list suggest the “individual review” is pure legal fiction – a rubber stamp dressed up in official language.

A governor who treats court rulings as suggestions

This pattern stretches well beyond voter rolls. Earlier this year, Spanberger tried to shove through a constitutional amendment designed to gerrymander Virginia’s congressional districts in Democrats’ favor. The state Supreme Court killed it in May, ruling she had ignored constitutionally required procedures.

Remember, this is someone who campaigned as a pragmatic moderate laser-focused on kitchen-table issues. Her actual record in Congress? She voted with the Biden administration almost every single time. The moderate packaging was always marketing. What’s underneath is a partisan operator willing to defy courts, sidestep the constitution, and – it now appears – ignore death certificates when political advantage is on the line.

Virginians who care about honest elections should be saying one thing loudly and clearly: Abigail Spanberger must be removed from office. Not next cycle. Not after a commission studies the problem. Now. A governor rebuked by her own state’s highest court, presiding over a system that mails voter registration invitations to the dead, has shattered the public trust beyond any reasonable repair. Self-governance demands leaders who respect its rules. Spanberger has made abundantly clear she does not.

Key Takeaways

• Spanberger’s office sent voting rights restoration letters with mail-in ballot instructions to felons dead for years.
• Virginia law forbids mass felon voting restoration – yet dead recipients prove no genuine individual review occurred.
• This follows Spanberger’s unconstitutional gerrymandering scheme, already struck down by Virginia’s Supreme Court.
• A governor who repeatedly defies the law and the courts for partisan gain has forfeited her right to lead.

Sources: The Post Millennial