Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones announced a new Voter Protection Section on Tuesday, saying it will enforce state voting-rights laws. The launch came amid scrutiny of voting-rights restoration notices that were reportedly sent to deceased former felons after Gov. Abigail Spanberger restored voting rights to more than 66,000 Virginians.
Jones’s office said the new section was created in response to what it described as erosion of the federal Voting Rights Act, actions by President Donald Trump and his administration, and efforts it said could limit ballot access. The announcement did not specify which Trump administration actions it was addressing.
Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 seeking stricter proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration and changes to mail-ballot rules. He has also backed the SAVE Act, which would require voter identification, according to the report.
Ajay Saini, the official named to lead the section, said the office would work with Virginia’s Department of Elections and Federal Accountability Unit. He said the effort was intended to protect the state’s authority over elections, election integrity and eligible voters’ access to the ballot.
Republican officials and other critics said Jones should focus on the restoration notices sent to deceased people. Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore told Fox News Digital that the new unit’s priority should be determining how many deceased former felons received restoration and how the notices were issued.
The report said several Virginians described receiving letters addressed to deceased relatives. Fredericksburg resident Howard Lambert told Fox News Digital that a notice addressed to his late daughter said officials had reviewed her case before restoring her rights.
The Republican Party of Virginia criticized Jones’s announcement, also referring to previously reported text messages in which Jones discussed shooting a former Republican House speaker. The report does not provide further details about the messages or Jones’s response to the party’s statement.
Kim Taylor, a former Republican delegate, told Fox News Digital that Jones’s voter-protection pledge did not address the restoration-letter controversy. Taylor also objected to a Democratic-supported November ballot measure concerning restoration of voting rights. She said the proposal would remove that authority from the governor and automatically allow formerly incarcerated felons to vote. Taylor characterized Jones’s new section as a political gesture and called for attention to election integrity.
Asked about those issues and Republican arguments that the SAVE Act itself offers protections, a Jones spokesperson did not directly address the questions, according to the report. Instead, Jones said the right to vote had been secured through generations of sacrifice and that voting-rights work remains ongoing. He said the new section gives that work a permanent home and described it as a year-round responsibility.
Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson raised another question about enforcement: whether the state would prosecute noncitizens who knowingly vote illegally. Anderson also pointed to Spanberger’s restrictions on federal immigration enforcement, including guidance on encounters at polling places. His comments were presented as criticism; the source material does not establish whether noncitizens have voted illegally in Virginia or describe any related prosecutions.
The Democratic Party of Virginia supported the new section, saying Trump was attacking voting rights and that Virginia would not back down. The disagreement comes as election security remains a prominent issue ahead of the midterms. The source material reports allegations and competing political statements but does not provide an official accounting of the deceased recipients or explain how the restoration notices were generated.
