McAuliffe Spox on Fugitive Sex Offenders Being Included on Restored Voting Rights List: 'Basically An Oversight'

Cortney O'Brien | July 15, 2016 9:15 AM

You may recall that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) wants to restore felons' voting rights
in the Old Dominion via executive action, overturning a 150-year-old law. What you may not know is that at least two of the 206,000 felons who would benefit from that policy change are fugitive sex offenders. Here are a few

key details about the fugitives at large:

James A. Hyams, 42, was convicted in Kentucky for raping a minor in 2000. Hyams was released but violated his parole in Virginia by committing grand larceny in 2012. He pleaded guilty to the charge but fled the state and was locked up in a New York prison. Vashawn L. Gray, 30, was convicted in Virginia for aggravated sexual battery of a minor in 2004 and has failed to register as a sex offender. His “whereabouts are unknown,” according to his probation officer.

When you ask McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy to explain how these two dangerous fugitives could have ended up on the governor's restored voting rights list, he chalks it up to an honest mistake.

“It was just basically an oversight,” Coy said. “It just didn’t factor into the initial pass.”

I'm sure Virginians are not going to take that as an answer.

In one week, the Virginia Supreme Court will decide whether or not to take up the state GOP's lawsuit against McAuliffe's executive action.