A Southside Virginia lawmaker is demanding an investigation after a constituent received an official rights-restoration certificate for his dog, Biscuit, a beagle-hound mix from Goochland County that died about five years ago.
The discovery follows the “Betty No Last Name” controversy in Chesapeake — where a purported convict lacking a surname had “her” rights restored — and raises fresh questions about the governor’s vetting process just days before voters decide whether to make felons’ voting-rights restoration automatic via an Election Day ballot measure supported by Richmond Democrats.
Del. Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham — who received the letter from the constituent who owned the pet — is now calling for an investigation into how Gov. Abigail Spanberger could have restored voting and jury-service rights to a deceased animal.
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“This is not a question of whether people who have served their sentences deserve a second chance. This is a question of whether the Commonwealth is exercising one of the Governor’s constitutional powers with even the most basic level of review,” Garrett said.
“Biscuit was a dog. Biscuit has been dead for five years. Yet an official document bearing the governor’s signature says the executive reviewed the particulars of Biscuit’s criminal case and determined her rights should be restored. Virginians deserve an explanation for how that is possible.”
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Biscuit’s owner, who declined to be identified to avoid political backlash, confirmed the letter’s authenticity to Fox News Digital and told Garrett in a statement that the pup was a “good dog and is greatly missed.”
“To my knowledge, she was never convicted of a felony, nor did she ever show any interest in voting,” the owner said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger for comment.
A spokesperson for Spanberger replied, “Of course we did not restore the rights of a dog. We cannot disclose this individual’s information, but we can tell you that it is associated with a person with a date of birth and Social Security number.”
Fox News Digital followed up to seek clarification on what error may have occurred but did not receive a response.
The owner told Fox News Digital that Biscuit was never sent to the pound or had any other contact with Richmond that could have resulted in her being placed on the voting rolls. The owner said a sibling is currently incarcerated but added that the connection is moot because Spanberger’s stated effort only involves released former convicts.
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Garrett noted in a statement that the Spanberger administration said in July that Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon-King would be “proactively identifying Virginians who had lost their rights, confirming that those individuals were eligible, and restoring their rights,” in his words.
Spanberger announced in August that the initial figure of 66,000 had reached 100,000 individuals who had received restoration of their rights since the Democrat took office in January.
“The administration told Virginians these individuals were being identified and their eligibility confirmed,” Garrett said in a statement, going on to call for an investigation into how a restoration certificate bearing Biscuit’s name came to be issued.
“The document itself represents that the executive reviewed the particulars of each case. If a deceased family pet made it through that process as a convicted felon, then we need to know what was actually reviewed, what databases were used, what safeguards existed, and how many other erroneous restorations were issued.”
An attorney in Fluvanna County when not legislating, Garrett said the Commonwealth must launch an immediate independent audit of Spanberger’s restoration-of-rights actions and disclose the underlying record that led to “Biscuit Rigsby” being identified as a convicted felon, as well as what Spanberger’s office defines as the “review of the particulars” of Biscuit’s case.
Any investigation should also identify how many certificates and citations were issued to deceased, nonexistent or duplicate humans and require the immediate preservation of relevant data.
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He said in a statement that his questions are not partisan and that Virginians who support restoring released felons’ voting rights should be outraged by Biscuit’s case.
“At what point does rank incompetence and malfeasance become criminal conduct?” Garrett added in a video posted to social media.
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With Virginians set to vote Tuesday on whether to make voting-rights restoration automatic upon release from incarceration, Garrett is demanding answers about the administration’s existing review process — including how a dog that died five years ago apparently made it through.