The majority of the 13,000 Virginia felons whose voting rights were restored by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D.) last week live in overwhelmingly Democratic areas, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Nearly one-third of the convicted felons who regained the right to vote live in a precinct where President Obama received more than three-quarters of the vote during his 2012 reelection bid, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project.
Meanwhile, less than 2 percent of those felons live in a precinct where 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received 75 percent of the vote.
McAuliffe had individual executive orders signed by autopen on Aug. 22 after Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled that his blanket restoration order for 200,000 felons was unconstitutional.
The state’s GOP lawmakers sued McAuliffe in May after he issued an executive order that would restore the voting rights of more than 200,000 felons in the state. Republicans charged that Virginia law makes clear the governor can solely grant clemency on an individual basis.
McAuliffe has been closely allied with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for years. Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, is from Virginia. Many on the right see these orders as attempts to bring more voters into the fold to support Democrats ahead of November.