Support Outreach to Newly Eligible Virginia Voters

In 2026, there is a real opportunity to activate tens of thousands of newly-eligible voters in Virginia who are eager to vote, but do not know that they are eligible. The problem is that existing voter outreach efforts cannot locate them.

During the Jim Crow era, Virginia, like many other Southern states, expanded felony disenfranchisement as part of a deliberate effort to reduce Black political power. In January 2026, a federal court found that this violated the narrow limits Congress established when the state was readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.

As a result, an estimated 100,000+ Virginians with past convictions are newly eligible to vote. Most were told for years that they could not vote and do not yet know their status has changed. Free Our Vote is leading the efforts to find these prospective voters that are missing from the resources typically relied upon for voter outreach. We then partner with outreach programs to inform these individuals of their eligibility, help them get registered, and ensure that they are empowered to exercise their fundamental right to vote. 

Funding this work contributes to lasting benefits beyond simply reaching 50K people for a single election. It builds a reusable pipeline for identifying newly eligible voters and deepens our understanding of how to effectively engage voters whose rights are restored. And the timing could not be better: if Virginians approve the November 2026 constitutional amendment restoring voting rights for everyone automatically upon release from incarceration, the eligible population will grow dramatically. This project ensures that we will be prepared to inform and support registration for these and other future voters.