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Voting Rights and Discrimination FAQ

The following are answers to the most frequently asked questions about voting rights and relevant laws. See FindLaw's Voting Rights section for more information.

What federal law protects me from discrimination in voting?


Where did the Voting Rights Act come from?

Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, at the height of the civil rights movement in the South, a movement committed to securing equal voting rights for African Americans. The action came immediately after one of the most important events of that movement, a clash between black civil rights marchers and white police in Selma, Alabama. The marchers were starting a 50-mile walk to the state capital, Montgomery, to demand equal rights in voting, when police used violence to disperse them. What happened that day in Selma shocked the nation, and led President Johnson to call for immediate passage of a strong federal voting rights law.

What does the Voting Rights Act do?

The Voting Rights Act bans all kinds of racial discrimination in voting. For years, many states had laws on their books that served only to prevent minority citizens from voting. Some of these laws required people to take a reading test or interpret some passage out of the Constitution in order to vote, or required people registering to vote to bring someone already registered who would vouch for their "good character." The Voting Rights Act made these and other discriminatory practices illegal, and gave private citizens the right to sue in federal court to stop them. In recent times, courts have applied the Act to end race discrimination in the method of electing state and local legislative bodies and in the choosing of poll officials.

Will the Voting Rights Act expire?


Most notably, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Section 4 of the Act is unconstitutional. That section determined which states needed to seek approval before enacting new voting laws. Since Section 5 outlines the actual requirement for preapproval, it is essentially inactive in light of the Court's ruling.

What is Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act?

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is currently in limbo, per the Supreme Court's 2013 ruling. Section 5 is a special provision of the statute that requires state and local governments in certain parts of the country to get federal approval (known as "preclearance") before implementing any changes they want to make in their voting procedures: anything from moving a polling place to changing district lines in the county. But since the formula used for determining which districts are subject to the rules outlined by Section 5 was ruled unconstitutional, Section 5 will have no actual effect unless Congress takes up the issue.

Under Section 5, a covered state, county or local government entity has to demonstrate to federal authorities that the voting change in question (1) does not have a racially discriminatory purpose; and (2) will not make minority voters worse off than they were prior to the change (i.e. the change will not be "retrogressive").

Prior to the Court ruling, Section 5 applied to all or parts of the following states (as determined by formula in Section 4, which is no longer part of the Act):

  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • California
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Louisiana
  • Michigan
  • Mississippi
  • New Hampshire
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Texas
  • Virginia

What kinds of racial discrimination in voting are there, and what does the Voting Rights Act do about them?




Is it prohibited to draw majority-minority districts?

No. Over 30 years ago the Supreme Court held that jurisdictions are free to draw majority-minority election districts that follow traditional, non-racial districting considerations, such as geographic compactness and keeping communities of interest together. Later Supreme Court decisions have held that drawing majority-minority districts may be required to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

While it remains legally permissible for jurisdictions to take race into account when drawing election districts, the Supreme Court has held that the Constitution requires a strong justification if racial considerations predominate over traditional districting principles. One such justification may be the need to remedy a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. While such a remedy may include election district boundaries that compromise traditional districting principles, such districts must be drawn where the Section 2 violation occurs and must not compromise traditional principles more than is necessary to remedy the violation.

What other voting rights laws exist?

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (often referred to as the "motor voter" law) requires states to make voter registration opportunities available when people apply for or receive services at a variety of government agencies, from driver's license offices to social services agencies and public benefits offices. The law says states must not take voters off the rolls merely because they have not voted, and it requires states to keep their voter rolls up to date by removing the names of voters who have died or moved away. It may be found at 42 U.S.C. 1973gg to 1973gg-10.

The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 1973ff to 1973ff-6) requires states to make sure that members of our armed forces who are stationed away from home, and citizens who are living overseas, can register and vote absentee in federal elections.

The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 1973ee to 1973ee-6) requires polling places across the United States to be physically accessible to people with disabilities.

Does the Voting Rights Act protect language minorities?

Yes and no. The Voting Rights Act makes it illegal to discriminate in voting based on someone's membership in a language minority group, but its effect in the wake of the 2013 Supreme Court ruling remains to be seen. The idea behind the Voting Rights Act's minority language provisions was to remove language as a barrier to political participation, and to prevent voting discrimination against people who speak minority languages.

Many jurisdictions with people of Hispanic, Native American, and Alaskan Native heritage were covered by Section 5 of the Act, prior to the 2013 Court ruling.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act further protected minority language group members by requiring particular jurisdictions to print ballots and other election materials in the minority language as well as in English, and to have oral translation help available at the polls where the need exists. But the formulas for determining which jurisdictions must do this are no longer part of the law, rendering this and other Section 5 provisions ineffective until Congress provides a new formula.

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