“Once individuals have served their time and paid their fines, restitution and other costs, they should have the opportunity to rejoin society as fully contributing members.”

A Virginia governor said that, expressing his disappointment that a plan to automatically restore voting rights for former felons was defeated.

Thing is, it’s probably not the governor you may think it is. No, that’s not a quote from Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who announced this week that he is moving ahead with plans to restore the voting rights of roughly 200,000 former felons after the Virginia Supreme Court overturned his blanket restoration last month.

No, the governor who made that comment was Republican Bob McDonnell, after a House subcommittee in 2013 killed proposals that would have restored the voting rights of non-violent felons who served their prison sentences.

“I believe strongly, as a matter of conscience, in protecting the constitutional rights of our citizen...