A Virginia House panel killed measures to restore felon voting rights and repeal the state's now-defunct ban on same-sex marriage.
The party-line votes mark the end of the road for the measures, which had bipartisan support in both chambers of the General Assembly last year but never made it to the full House for a floor vote this time.
To change the state constitution, a proposed amendment must win passage in General Assembly two years in a row — with an election in between — before going to a public vote in a general election. The felon voting and same-sex marriage measures passed both chambers of the Democratic-controlled legislature last year with bipartisan support, but prospects for their passage dimmed after Republicans won control of the House in November.
Supporters of the voting rights measure took it as a good sign this year that a Republican, Del. Mike Cherry sponsored the House version of that measure. But the GOP-led House Privileges and Elections Subcommittee shot that down a month ago, along with the House version of the marriage amendment. “We think it’s an important matter of justice for those who have finished their sentences,” said Jeff Caruso, executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference.
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