Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanbergers office mailed a voting-rights restoration letter in the name of Kayla Renae Vaughn, stating a completed review of the particulars of [Vaughns] case, after a Virginia resident who asked not to be identified contacted Delegate Tom Garrett, a Buckingham Republican, about a notice addressed to someone the resident said they did not know.
Fox News, citing state correctional records, reported that Vaughn remains in prison at the Central Virginia Correctional Unit in Chesterfield County, serving a 40-year sentence with 37 years suspended after being charged in Pearisburg in May 2023 with Drugs: Manufacture/Distribute; Schedule I or II; Second Offense and sentenced in January 2025. Fox said it sought comment from Vaughn and prison officials, and that the facility referred inquiries to the Virginia Department of Corrections, which acknowledged the request. Spanberger and Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon-King did not respond to requests for comment.
Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore demanded an explanation, saying, Restoring the rights of the dead is a failure. Restoring the rights of a dog is an embarrassment, and that Restoring the rights of someone still incarcerated on a felony conviction would represent a new level of carelessness. The Governor owes Virginia answers, and soon. Earlier restoration letters had been reported as going to relatives of dead felons, to Betty No Last Name at a sheriffs office, and to an address tied to Biscuit Rigsby, a Goochland dog; Spanbergers office has previously said the Biscuit record is associated with a living person who has a date of birth and a Social Security number.
The letter, signed by Spanberger and Mundon-King, is the new controversy; the earlier mailings are background, not a new event. A voting-rights amendment approved by Virginia voters on November 3 limits automatic restoration to people once released from incarceration and excludes those serving a sentence of incarceration for a felony. Spanberger has described the effort as helping people who had served their time, returned home, and simply wanted the dignity of being able to fully participate in our democracy, a description that, if the correctional records cited by Fox are accurate, would not apply to Vaughn.
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