Ex-convict excited to have his voting rights returned

Tuesday’s election will be the last time Jerry Smith won’t vote.

A couple of crimes from some 40 years ago, when he was a teenager, cost Smith the right to a spot at the polls.

But it wasn’t until his status as a convicted felon also cost him a job he loved that he decided to regain what was lost amid his convictions — his right to vote, serve on a jury and run for political office.

Smith, a Lynchburg resident, was convicted of robbery in 1970 and of petit larceny in 1971. He served his time and paid his restitution many years ago. He kept out of trouble, got married, raised a family and now spends time with his 12 grandchildren.

When those two convictions showed up in a background check a couple years ago at Mary Bethune Academy, Smith lost his position there as a bus driver, since he directly interacted with the preschoolers.

“If they never took me off the bus, I wouldn’t have gotten my rights back,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t have pursued it.”

On Oct. 9, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine reinstated Smith’s rights. However, that decision came too close to Tuesday’s election for Smith to get registered in time to vote. The 58-year-old has never voted.

He became the 4,001st convicted felon to have his rights restored during Kaine’s tenure, out of 6,264 who have applied.

Virginia remains one of only two states that bars all convicted felons from voting, serving on juries and running for or holding political office, unless the governor intervenes. The other state is Kentucky.

Felons convicted of nonviolent crimes can reapply for their rights three years after all terms of their sentences are complete, including probation and payments of all fines and restitution. For violent felons, the waiting period is five years.

Smith lost his rights after a night out with a couple friends that ended at a convenience store on 12th Street when a fight broke out between his two friends and the clerk. The three ran, and one was shot in the arm during the fray.

Smith fled to Washington, D.C., where he was later picked up for purse snatching and extradited to Lynchburg, where he was found guilty of robbery. While he was appealing his sentence, Smith was arrested for petit larceny for stealing a camera from a store.

The two convictions cost him five years and two months in prison. While on work release, he met his wife, Brenda.

“When I got out, I started getting my life together. I got married. I had kids. They’re now grown.”

He began working for Mary Bethune Academy almost 30 years ago as a bus driver and facility manager. An initial background check did not show his conviction, but a recent law change required regular background screenings for all those working with children. That is when his conviction came back to haunt him.

A robbery conviction is considered a barrier crime, preventing employment at places that care for the vulnerable, like children, the elderly and those with mental disabilities.

Smith began driving a Greater Lynchburg Transit Company bus 10 months ago and still does maintenance and janitorial work at the academy.

Ester Wood, executive director of the academy, said losing Smith as a bus driver was a terrible blow, particularly to the children, who called him Pawpaw.

“It’s totally ridiculous,” she said. “It’s a law that is meant to protect our children, but what it did was hurt our children. These are a lot of kids from bad neighborhoods that don’t really have good male role models.”

Wood said she’s not found a bus driver as good and patient with the children as Smith. She’s been working to get him back on the bus.

The first step was getting his rights restored, but at the moment, his conviction still prevents him from driving the bus.

“If he doesn’t come back as a driver, he’d still like to feel like he can walk into the building any time of day and not feel like he’s done something wrong,” Wood said. “Can you imagine how hard it was for him to explain why he couldn’t drive the bus anymore?”

In 2006, Smith was awarded the Nancy L. Sorrells Award by the United Way of Central Virginia for his service in the community. In the nomination letter, Wood wrote that Smith was one of the “kindest and most dedicated people” she’s worked with, adding that he’s always been around to help.

“It’s done. It’s history,” she said of Smith’s conviction. “There is an imbalance in how the law impacts people. I know there has got to be a line somewhere, but this one is drawn in the wrong place.”

Once before, Smith decided to apply for the reinstatement of his rights, but he never filed the paperwork. This time, he followed through, writing a letter to the governor about his poor choices as a young man.

“More than 30 years later, I am a better person,” he wrote. “As a testament to my rehabilitation, I have been married 30 years, have adult children, am a homeowner, am involved in various civic organizations and have been employed with the same employer for more than 28 years.

“I am regretful of the poor choices I made in the past but at the same time I am always striving for self improvement and better opportunities.”

According to The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit for research and advocacy on criminal justice issues, those with convictions are often under the misunderstanding that once convicted they have forever lost their right to vote.

“It’s amazing the amount of young black men that have lost their rights and will never get them back,” said Walter Fore, a local civil rights advocate who helped Smith apply to have his rights restored.

“Once you serve your time, and it’s not a hardcore crime like murder or rape, your rights should be restored. It should be automatic.”