在民主党夺得国会两院控制权、各州州长官邸及州议会多数席位之际，弗吉尼亚州推翻了其“吉姆·克劳时代的终身禁令”，恢复了有重罪前科人员的投票权。
While Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress, governors’ mansions, and state legislatures across the country, Virginia overturned its “Jim Crow-era lifetime ban” on voting for people with prior felony convictions.
选民通过了一项投票修正案，规定重罪服刑人员在获释后即刻恢复投票权；同时通过了另外两项投票倡议，将生殖权利和同性婚姻保护写入州宪法。据 NBC News 报道，截至 96.8% 的选票完成计数，恢复原服刑人员投票权的法律以超过 10 个百分点的优势通过。该禁令最早于 1902 年颁布，禁止任何被判重罪的人终身投票。
Voters approved a ballot amendment that restores voting rights to people with felony convictions immediately upon their release, along with two other ballot initiatives that enshrined reproductive rights and same-sex marriage protections in the state’s constitution. The law restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated people passed by over 10 percentage points with 96.8 percent of votes counted, according to NBC News Enacted back in 1902 Virginia’s law banned anyone convicted of a felony from voting for the rest of their lives.
当时，一百名白人男性代表以明确剥夺黑人选民投票权为目的通过了这项条款。虽然许多其他州也禁止前重罪犯投票，但弗吉尼亚州曾是仅有的三个——连同爱荷华州和肯塔基州——仍保留这项吉姆·克劳时代法律的州之一。量刑项目组织于 2026 年 2 月报告称，因该法律而被剥夺投票权的弗吉尼亚州民超过 25 万。
Back then, one hundred male white delegates passed this provision with the explicit intent of disenfranchising Black voters While plenty of other states bar former felons from voting, Virginia was only one of three states, along with Iowa and Kentucky, with this Jim Crow-era law on the books. In February 2026 The Sentencing Project reported that over a quarter of a million Virginians were blocked from voting because of it.
在田纳西州，无家可归者若被发现在公共财产上即构成重罪。在肯塔基州，州政府将使用致命武力将无家可归者从私人财产上驱逐的行为非刑事化。
In Tennessee, it’s a felony if you’re found on public property while unhoused. In Kentucky, the state decriminalized the use of deadly force to remove an unhoused person from private property.
我本周早些时候报道了弗吉尼亚州无家可归选民在投票时面临的挑战。文中，我采访了全国无家可归者联盟执行主任唐纳德·怀特黑德，他告诉我，监禁与无家可归之间存在一个“旋转门”现象。
I reported earlier this week about the challenges unhoused voters in Virginia face in casting their ballots. In it, I spoke with Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, who told me that there’s a revolving door between incarceration and homelessness.
在2024年最高法院作出裁决之后，法官们裁定地方政府可以执行公共露营和睡眠禁令而不违反宪法，怀特黑德的组织已追踪到全国320项将无家可归定为犯罪的新法令。“我们确实看到了更多严厉的定罪做法，”他告诉我。
In the wake of the 2024 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled that local governments could enforce public camping and sleeping bans without violating the Constitution, Whitehead’s organization has tracked 320 new ordinances across the country criminalizing homelessness. “We certainly have seen more draconian criminalization practices,” he told me.
各州越来越以刑事处罚针对无家可归者，尽管这一群体面临巨大的不平等、资源短缺和外联服务有限。在田纳西州，如果你无家可归并被发现在公共财产上，那就是重罪。在肯塔基州，该州将使用致命武力将无家可归者从私人财产中驱离的行为非罪化。在路易斯安那州，无家可归是一种犯罪，可处以严厉罚款和监禁刑罚。“这种刑罚还可能包括苦役，”怀特黑德告诉我。
States are increasingly targeting unhoused people with criminal penalties, despite this group facing staggering disparities, resource shortages, and limited outreach. In Tennessee it’s a felony if you’re found on public property while unhoused. In Kentucky the state decriminalized the use of deadly force to remove an unhoused person from private property. And in Louisiana homelessness is a crime punishable by harsh fines and jail sentences. “That sentence can also include hard labor,” Whitehead informed me.
弗吉尼亚州此前允许前重罪犯投票，但前提是州长赦免他们或他们成功申请恢复权利。这起到了一种双重惩罚的作用，对有色人种的影响尤为严重。“这实际上是一种将更多人从我国选民行列中除名的方式，并且压制了声音，”怀特黑德告诉我。
Virginia previously allowed former felons to vote only if a governor pardoned them or they successfully petitioned for restoration. It functioned as a sort of double punishment that disproportionately affects people of color. “It’s really a way to remove more people from the ranks of voters in our country, and it silences voices,” Whitehead told me.
无家可归者在投票时面临一系列挑战，即使没有先前重罪定罪。这些挑战包括严格的选民登记规定、保持最新文件，以及仅仅是实际到达投票站。加利福尼亚州、华盛顿州、佛蒙特州和新泽西州等一些州正在积极努力使投票更加便利。但在佛罗里达州、堪萨斯州和密西西比州等州，在通过了限制性选民登记和身份证法律（其中一些要求合格选民出示公民身份证明）后，投票变得越来越困难。
People experiencing homelessness face a litany of challenges when casting their votes, even without facing prior felony convictions. They include strict voter registration guidelines, maintaining up-to-date documentation, and just physically getting to the polling site. Some states, like California, Washington, Vermont, and New Jersey, are actively trying to make voting more accessible. But in states like Florida, Kansas, and Mississippi, voting is getting harder after passing restrictive voting registration and ID laws, some of which require eligible voters to show proof of citizenship.
自2013年以来，弗吉尼亚州历任州长采取措施，恢复了数十万有过定罪人员的投票权，但前共和党州长格伦·扬金在2023年恢复了对重罪定罪人员的终身投票禁令。
Since 2013, Virginia governors have taken steps to restore voting rights to hundreds of thousands of people with past convictions, but former Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin revived the lifetime ban on voting for people with felony convictions in 2023.
在民主党州长阿比盖尔·斯潘伯格领导下，弗吉尼亚州选民让这一情况有所缓和。
Under Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger, Virginia voters have made it a little easier.
怀特黑德对我说：“我们必须开始拥抱‘激进的邻里精神’这一理念，并开始把生活在街头的人视为我们的邻居。”
“We have to start embracing the concept of radical neighborliness,” Whitehead told me, “and start to see people living on the streets as our neighbors.”