Biscuit Rigby — a beagle-hound mix from Goochland County, Virginia — received an official letter from Governor Abigail Spanberger's office informing her that the executive had personally reviewed the particulars of her criminal case and determined her rights should be restored. The letter included a QR code to request a mail-in ballot. Biscuit has been dead for five years.
She was also never convicted of a felony.
Virginia Delegate Tom Garrett, a Republican, posted a video on October 30th revealing the letter and demanding answers. "Biscuit was a dog. Biscuit has been dead for five years," Garrett said. "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."
The restored rights weren't limited to voting. According to the letter, Biscuit was cleared for jury service, holding public office, and serving as a notary public. Firearms restoration was the only right excluded. One imagines the beagle-hound mix would have had trouble with the grip.
Garrett noted this wasn't the first time the governor's office had sent rights-restoration paperwork to a non-human recipient. A previous letter went to "Betty, No Last Name" — another entry apparently generated from whatever database the governor's office is using to process these restorations. Garrett had informed the governor's office about dead Virginians receiving these letters approximately a month earlier. The letters kept coming.
"At what point does rank incompetence and malfeasance become criminal conduct?" Garrett asked. "Virginians deserve an explanation for how this is possible."
Governor Spanberger's spokesperson responded with a statement that managed to be both defensive and unhelpful: "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."
So the official explanation is that Biscuit Rigby — the name on the letter, addressed to the dog's home — is actually associated with a real person who has a Social Security number. The governor's office just can't tell us who. They'd also like us to know it was a "spreadsheet error." The same spreadsheet error that previously generated a rights-restoration letter for someone named "Betty, No Last Name."
Garrett, who noted that Biscuit's owner confirmed she "was a good girl," added: "To my knowledge, she was never convicted of a felony, nor did she ever show any interest in voting."
This landed two days before Election Day. The governor's office is mass-processing rights restorations using a database that can't distinguish between a convicted felon who served their time and a dead household pet. Garrett isn't arguing against second chances for people who've paid their debt to society. He's asking how a system that generates official government documents — complete with the governor's signature and a QR code linked to ballot access — has no mechanism to verify whether the recipient is alive, human, or ever committed a crime in the first place.
The "spreadsheet error" defense assumes we believe this is a one-off. Two documented cases of non-human or nonsensical recipients suggest it's a pattern. The question isn't whether Biscuit would have voted. The question is how many other letters went to addresses where someone was willing to scan that QR code.
As reported by American Wire News, Biscuit Rigby is now eligible to vote, serve on a jury, hold public office, and notarize your mortgage. The only registered voter in Virginia who can't fill out a ballot because she doesn't have thumbs — or a pulse.
