Tuesday's elections include several contests that have critical implications for the right to vote, including ballot measures where voters will directly decide whether to expand access to the ballot box, judicial races that will determine which judges one day rule on such matters, and elections for legislative and executive posts where officials will have the power to reshape voting laws. Below, we'll preview three important states with relevant elections for voting rights and democracy: Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania. • Virginia: Virginia voters will elect a new governor and all 100 state House seats, both of which have implications for voting rights. Former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe faces off against Republican Glenn Youngkin for governor, while Democrats are defending the 55-45 majority in the state House they first won just two years ago. Both sets of elections could determine how Virginia addresses felony disenfranchisement, while the legislative races in particular will be critical to the composition of the state Supreme Court. When McAuliffe was governor in 2016, he used his executive power to end lifetime disenfranchisement for those convicted of felonies by restoring voting rights to people who had fully served their sentences. His successor, fellow Democrat Ralph Northam, continued that policy and earlier this year extended it to restore voting rights to everyone on parole or probation, enabling more than 200,000 people to vote. (Only those still in prison remain unable to vote.) Democrats also used their first legislative majorities in a quarter century, which they won in 2019, to pass a constitutional amendment that would permanently end felony disenfranchisement for everyone not in prison. Read more