A Southside Virginia lawmaker is calling for an investigation after a constituent received an official certificate restoring the rights of Biscuit, a beagle-hound mix from Goochland County that died roughly five years ago.
The case follows the “Betty No Last Name” controversy in Chesapeake, in which the rights of a purported convict without a surname were restored. It also raises new questions about Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s vetting process just days before voters decide whether to automatically restore voting rights to felons through an Election Day ballot measure backed by Richmond Democrats.
Del. Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham, received the certificate from Biscuit’s owner and is demanding an investigation into how the governor’s office could have restored voting and jury-service rights to a deceased dog.
“This is not a question of whether people who have served their sentences deserve a second chance. 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 said.
“Biscuit was a dog. Biscuit has been dead for five years. Yet an official document bearing the governor’s signature says the executive reviewed the particulars of Biscuit’s criminal case and determined her rights should be restored. Virginians deserve an explanation for how that is possible.”
Biscuit’s owner, who asked not to be identified because of concerns about political backlash, confirmed the letter’s authenticity to Fox News Digital. In a statement to Garrett, the owner described Biscuit as a “good dog” who “is greatly missed.”
“To my knowledge, she was never convicted of a felony, nor did she ever show any interest in voting,” the owner said.
Fox News Digital contacted Spanberger’s office for comment.
A Spanberger spokesperson responded, “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.”
Fox News Digital sought additional clarification about the possible error but did not receive a response.
The owner said Biscuit was never taken to a pound or had any other contact with Richmond that might have led to her being placed on voter-registration records.
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The owner said a sibling is currently incarcerated but maintained that the connection is irrelevant because Spanberger’s stated initiative applies only to former convicts who have been released.
Garrett pointed to a July statement from the Spanberger administration saying Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon-King would be “proactively identifying Virginians who had lost their rights, confirming that those individuals were eligible, and restoring their rights.”
In August, Spanberger said the initial estimate of 66,000 people had grown to 100,000 individuals whose rights had been restored since the Democrat took office in January.
“The administration told Virginians these individuals were being identified and their eligibility confirmed,” Garrett said. He called for an investigation into how a restoration certificate bearing Biscuit’s name was issued.
“The document itself represents that the executive reviewed the particulars of each case. If a deceased family pet made it through that process as a convicted felon, then we need to know what was actually reviewed, what databases were used, what safeguards existed, and how many other erroneous restorations were issued.”
Garrett, who works as an attorney in Fluvanna County when he is not legislating, said Virginia should immediately conduct an independent audit of Spanberger’s rights-restoration actions. He also called for the release of the underlying record that led to “Biscuit Rigsby” being identified as a convicted felon, along with an explanation of what the governor’s office means by its “review of the particulars” of Biscuit’s case.
He said the investigation should determine how many certificates and citations were issued to deceased, nonexistent or duplicate individuals and should require the immediate preservation of relevant data.
Garrett said his concerns are not partisan, adding that Virginians who support restoring the voting rights of released felons should be outraged by the Biscuit case.
“At what point does rank incompetence and malfeasance become criminal conduct?” Garrett said in a video posted to social media.
With Virginians set to vote Tuesday on whether to make voting-rights restoration automatic upon release from incarceration, Garrett is demanding answers about the administration’s existing review process — including how a dog that died five years ago apparently made it through.