In April, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe restored voting rights to more than 200,000 people with felony convictions. The provision in the state’s constitution that bans felons from voting stemmed from attempts to prevent African Americans from voting. “The whole genesis of what we’re talking about goes to the core of racism in this country,” McAuliffe says in this short video. “Many African Americans were being arrested early on in the southern states, so predominately African Americans were the ones being charged with felonies.” Atlantic staff writer Vann R. Newkirk II traveled to Richmond, Virginia, to speak with the governor and those directly affected by the order.

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