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U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Voting Section

About Language Minority Voting Rights

The Language Minority Provisions of the Voting Rights Act

Congress adopted the language minority provisions of the Voting Rights Act in 1975 for a period of ten years, then extended them in 1982 for ten years and in 1992 for fifteen years. In enacting these provisions of the Voting Rights Act, Congress found that:

[T]hrough the use of various practices and procedures, citizens of language minorities have been effectively excluded from participation in the electoral process. Among other factors, the denial of the right to vote of such minority group citizens is ordinarily directly related to the unequal educational opportunities afforded them resulting in high illiteracy and low voting participation. The Congress declares that, in order to enforce the guarantees of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution, it is necessary to eliminate such discrimination by prohibiting these practices, and by prescribing other remedial devices.

The language minority provisions are contained in Sections 203 and 4(f)(4) of the Voting Rights Act. Section 203 is codified at 42 U.S.C. 1973aa-1a; Section 4(f)(4) is codified at 42 U.S.C. 1973b(f)(4). The enforcement of these provisions is an important component of the Civil Rights Division's work.

See also, more detailed information on rights and responsibilities under the language minority provisions.  PDF version    En Español

Language Minority Guidelines

The Attorney General has published guidelines entitled "Implementation Of The Provisions Of The Voting Rights Act Regarding Language Minority Groups." 28 C.F.R. Part 55. Please note that 28 C.F.R. Part 55 has not yet been updated to reflect the July 26, 2002, determinations by the Director of the Bureau of the Census pursuant to Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act.

Language Minority Guidelines Online:
(HTML 57K)
(PDF 84K)     Get Acrobat Reader

Language Minority Covered Jurisdictions

States and/or their political subdividions may be covered for language minority purposes under either Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act or Section 4(f)(4) of the Voting Rights Act.

Jurisdictions covered under Section 4(f)(4) must obtain Section 5 preclearance for all changes affecting voting; jurisdictions covered under Section 203 but not under Section 4(b) are not required to obtain preclearance for voting changes.

Section 203 Covered Jurisdictions (July 26, 2002)  (PDF)
      Map of Covered Jurisdictions:      (GIF 155K)     (PDF 2M)

These links provide more information about the covered jurisdiction and what jurisdictions should do to comply with Section 203.
   En Español   Chinese   Japanese   Korean      Tagalog

Attorney Contacts for the Newly Covered Jurisdictions

Section 4(f)(4) Covered Jurisdictions

Language Minority Enforcement

As discussed in Part 55.2(b) of the Attorney General's Guidelines:

(b) In the Attorney General's view the objective of the Act's provisions is to enable members of applicable language minority groups to participate effectively in the electoral process. This part establishes two basic standards by which the Attorney General will measure compliance:

(1) That materials and assistance should be provided in a way designed to allow members of applicable language minority groups to be effectively informed of and participate effectively in voting-connected activities; and

(2) That an affected jurisdiction should take all reasonable steps to achieve that goal.

Information gathered by federal observers, who monitor elections under Section 8 of the Voting Rights Act, have provided much of the foundation for several language minority lawsuits, and continuing federal observer coverage enables the Section to monitor compliance programs provided in consent decrees.

The United States has been able to resolve language minority compliance issues by consent decrees in a number of cases. The recent minority language consent decrees listed below show how the effective provision of minority language election materials may require different approaches depending upon the particular facts of each case.

red arrow button Yakima County Consent Decree  (HTML)    (PDF)    (PDF-Esp.)

red arrow button Passaic County, New Jersey Consent Decree  (HTML)

red arrow button Lawrence, Massachessetts Settlement Agreement and Order  (HTML)

red arrow button Bernalillo County, New Mexico Consent Decree  (HTML)     (PDF)

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Last Revised - October 7, 2004