On January 16, the Virginia legislature passed HJR 2, a proposed constitutional amendment that ends the practice of preventing felons from registering to vote, once they have served their sentences. Now it will go to a vote of the people.

Assuming the amendment becomes law, there will be an indirect boost for ballot access, because approximately 300,000 Virginians who could not previously sign petitions will be able to sign petitions. The Virginia petition requirements for minor party and independent candidates require a fixed number of signatures, not a percentage of the last vote. So an increase in the number of registered voters does not cause the number of signatures to rise.