Spanberger's Office Restored a 'Felon's' Voting Rights. The Felon Was Biscuit, a Beagle Dead Five Years

A Virginia felon just got her voting rights back. Her name is Biscuit Rigsby, she was a beagle-hound mix, and she has been dead for five years.

Republican Del. Tom Garrett, a former congressman who represents Buckingham and the Southside, went public Friday with a certificate a constituent in Goochland County found in the mail. It carries the state seal, the heading "Commonwealth of Virginia, Executive Department," and the signatures of Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon King.

The paper says Biscuit Rigsby was "convicted and sentenced for crime(s) committed prior to August 27, 2026, when the Executive completed review of the particulars of the individual's case." Then it restores her rights "to vote, hold public office, serve on a jury, and to be a notary public," effective Sept. 4, 2026. Guns are the only thing it holds back. It even misspells "whereas" in the third paragraph.

"Biscuit was a good dog and is greatly missed," the owner said in a statement Garrett released. "To my knowledge, she was never convicted of a felony, nor did she ever show any interest in voting."

"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," Garrett said. "Virginians deserve an explanation for how that is possible."

The governor's office: trust us

Spanberger's spokesperson told Fox News Digital, which first reported the owner's account: "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."

That answer opens more questions than it closes. If a real person was behind the record, why does an official state certificate name a dead family pet and land at the home where that pet lived? Who is the person, and what database matched them to the name Biscuit Rigsby? Fox asked what went wrong and got no reply. The owner said a sibling is in prison, but Spanberger's push covers only people who have already been released.

Betty first, now Biscuit

This is the second certificate this week that makes the governor's "review" look like a rubber stamp. On Oct. 28, Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson posted one made out to "Betty No Last Name." That name is printed four times, and the same line claims the Executive reviewed "the particulars of the individual's case."

Anderson pointed to Va. Code 18.2-472, which makes it a crime for a public officer to fraudulently make a false entry in an official record in his custody. He has filed public-records requests to find out who Betty is and how Biscuit got a certificate, and he wants the attorney general to open a criminal investigation or a local prosecutor to seat a special grand jury.

100,000 in seven months

Context matters here. Virginia's constitution strips felons of the vote for life unless the governor restores it, and Spanberger made restoring rights a signature cause. Her office said the Secretary of the Commonwealth was "proactively" finding people who had lost their rights, confirming they were eligible and restoring them, without waiting for anyone to apply.

The count rose fast. Spanberger said she hit 66,000 about six months in. Then, at the March on Washington anniversary on Aug. 28, she announced a new number in a speech her office released: "As of 2pm yesterday, my Administration had restored the rights of 100,000 eligible Virginians."

Do the math. That is more than 12,000 restorations a month, every month, since she took office in January, each one supposedly a "review of the particulars." And note the date. "Yesterday" was Aug. 27, the same day Biscuit's certificate says the Executive finished reviewing her case.

Spanberger herself put it plainly in that same speech: "The Governor has the sole discretion over whether the restoration process is transparent or done behind closed doors." Right now, it's closed doors.

The vote on Tuesday

The timing could not be worse for her. On Nov. 3, Virginians vote on Question 3, a constitutional amendment Spanberger backs. It would declare a "fundamental right to vote" and give felons the vote automatically the moment they leave prison, with no governor's review at all.

Think of it like a bouncer who just waved a dead beagle into the club. Question 3's answer is to fire the bouncer. Republican state Sen. Glen Sturtevant, who called for an independent audit of the restoration process earlier this month, put it in four words: "Vote No on Question 3."

What happens next

Garrett wants an immediate independent audit. He is demanding the record that flagged "Biscuit Rigsby" as a felon, a count of certificates sent to dead, nonexistent or duplicate people, and an order to preserve the data. "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," he said.

Spanberger's office has not said who Betty is, who is behind Biscuit's file, or how many more certificates like these went out. Garrett asked the question in his video, four days before the vote: "At what point does rank incompetence and malfeasance become criminal conduct?"