A QR code printed on an official letter now sits at the center of a political fight in Virginia. Republican lawmakers say Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office mailed rights-restoration notices to people who are no longer alive.
Every letter carried the code. Scanning it took the recipient to a website for voter registration.
One notice carried the name of Biscuit Rigsby, a beagle-hound mix from Gum Springs. Biscuit died five years ago.
Former state Delegate Nick Freitas put the paperwork online. It restored the dog’s voting rights, along with the rights to sit on a jury, hold office, notarize documents and possess firearms.
Fox News Digital reached Biscuit’s owner, who confirmed the letter was authentic and asked to stay anonymous to avoid political backlash. The owner described the pet as a “good dog and is greatly missed,” according to the outlet.
Spanberger’s office pushed back. “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,” a spokesperson replied.
Delegate Tom Garrett, a former U.S. representative who practices law in Fluvanna County, pressed for answers.
He demanded an independent audit of the governor’s restoration actions. He also asked the state to release the record that identified Biscuit as a convicted felon.
Garrett also called for an investigation and explained his position.
“This is not a question of whether people who have served their sentences deserve a second chance,” he said. “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 did not stop with the dog. He cited a certificate addressed to “Betty No Last Name” of Chesapeake.
Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson first obtained that document and handed it to Fox News Digital. His discovery spread across social media on Thursday.
A different letter, addressed to a complete stranger, landed in the mailbox of a Garrett constituent in the Buckingham area.
Other Virginians had already come forward. At least two confirmed accounts described letters that restored the voting rights of relatives who died long ago.
Spanberger fielded questions about the letters during a stop in Lexington for the Rural Center Summit.
ABC13 asked how the notices reached deceased Virginians and how many went out. She answered by separating two processes.
“The restoration of rights is based on someone’s right to be able to have their rights restored.
That is not the same as being registered to vote,” Spanberger said. She gave no specific count of letters sent to the dead, WSET reported.
The mailings trace back to her restoration program.
Spanberger announced in July that she had restored the rights of more than 66,000 Virginians with felony convictions who completed their sentences.
By August, she reported the total had climbed to 100,000 since she took office in January.
Voters weigh in on the issue Tuesday. Three constitutional amendments sit on the Virginia ballot, and one would make rights restoration automatic upon release from incarceration.
Luke Rosiak, an investigative reporter for the Daily Wire, has separately raised concerns about the state’s election-integrity procedures.
He cited ID Confirmation Statements, which let voters cast ballots without showing any identification.
Critics have accused Spanberger, a former CIA operative, of deliberately clouding the rules to sow confusion that would benefit Democrats.
Online, the reaction ran hot.
“[I]t’s not by accident,” wrote X user Raquel Brodzinsky-Feigenbutz. “The leftists are deliberately trashing the integrity of our elections so that we’ll agree to dump it and start over. It’s not the system that’s flawed, it’s the corruption that isn’t being held to account that’s the problem. People need to go to jail for the crimes they’ve committed.”
