2026 Proposed Constitutional Amendments

2026 Proposed Constitutional Amendments

This November, Virginia voters will decide on three proposed amendments to the state constitution. These amendments will impact women's reproductive freedoms, restoration of voting rights, and marriage equality. 

 

Here's what each would change and links to more detailed informational flyers. 

 Jump to... Right to Reproductive Freedom, Repeal of Same-Sex Marriage Ban, Automatic Voting Rights Restoration

 

Right to Reproductive Freedom 

This amendment adds a new section to the Virginia Constitution guaranteeing a fundamental right to reproductive freedom - including decisions about prenatal care, child birth, contraception, and abortion - while allowing the state to regulate abortion in the third trimester with limits. 

Current law vs. proposed law

Current Law Proposed Law

- Virginia constitution does not guarantee reproductive rights. Abortion is legal up to the end of the second trimester under state law - not the constitution - and that law can change at any time. 

- The U.S. Supreme Court 2022 Dobbs decision removed federal constitutional protection for abortion, leaving each state to set its own rule

- Establishes a fundamental right to reproductive freedom: prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.

- The state may only limit this right when it has a compelling interest, using the least restrictive means possible. 

- The state may still regulate abortion in the third trimester - but any such law must allow it when medically needed to protect the pregnant person's life or health, or when the fetus is not viable. 

- Protects doctors, nurses and patients from being punished for these decisions. 

What the ballot question asks: 

"Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care; (ii) protect doctors, nurses, and patients from being punished for these decisions; and (iii) allow for restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy except when the patient's health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive?"

Learn more here

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Repeal of Same-Sex Marriage Ban

This amendment removes Virginia's unenforceable ban on same-sex marriage from the constitution and replaces it with a requirement that the state recognize and treat equally any lawful marriage between two adults, regardless of sex, gender or race. 

Current law vs. proposed law

Current Law Proposed Law

  • A 2006 amendment states only a marriage between one man and one woman is valid, and separately bars the state from recognizing civil unions or similar legal status for unmarried couples.
  • This has been unenforceable since Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) legalized same-sex marriage nationwide — but the ban remains written into the constitution and would take effect again if that ruling were ever reversed.
  • Virginia state law already recognizes same-sex marriage (the defunct statutory ban was repealed in 2020; protection was affirmatively codified in 2024) — but this is ordinary statute, not a constitutional guarantee.
  • Removes the existing ban on same-sex marriage — and the related ban on civil unions — from the constitution.
  • Replaces it with a requirement that Virginia recognize and treat equally any lawful marriage between two adults, regardless of sex, gender, or race.
  • Religious organizations and clergy retain the right to decline to perform any marriage.
  • Would make Virginia the fifth state to remove a constitutional same-sex marriage ban by ballot measure, after Nevada (2020) and California, Colorado, and Hawaii (2024).

What the ballot question asks: 

"Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?"

Learn more here

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Automatic Voting Rights Restoration

This amendment adds an explicit "fundamental right to vote" clause, making felony voting-rights restoration automatic upon release from prison, and narrows the separate rule disqualifying voters found to lack capacity to understand voting. 

Current law vs. proposed law

 Current Law Proposed Law 
 
  • A felony conviction permanently strips a person of the right to vote. The only way to regain it is to apply individually to the Governor's office — a discretionary process that varies by administration, with no guarantee of restoration.
  • Virginia is one of only three states (with Iowa and Kentucky) whose constitutions permanently disenfranchise everyone convicted of a felony absent individual governor action.
  • Separately, the constitution disqualifies anyone "adjudicated to be mentally incompetent" from voting, regardless of the kind of incapacity, until a court restores competency.
  • Establishes a constitutional "fundamental right to vote" for every qualifying citizen, which cannot otherwise be restricted by law.
  • Voting rights are restored automatically upon release from prison alone — no application to the Governor, and no requirement to also finish parole or probation or pay outstanding fines first.
  • The Governor no longer has discretion over individual felony rights restoration.
  • Narrows the incompetency disqualification: a court must specifically find the person lacks the capacity to understand the act of voting — not just "incompetent" in general.

 

What the ballot question asks: 

"Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended (i) to provide for the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, (ii) to revise the qualifications of voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitled to vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically invested with the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and (iii) to update the existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentally incompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting?"

Learn more here

 

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