Which provisions of the Voting Rights Act will expire in August 2007 unless Congress acts to reauthorize them?
There are three key parts of the VRA that will expire in 2007 unless reauthorized: • Section 5 of the Act which requires certain jurisdictions to obtain approval (or “preclearance”) from the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court in D.C. before they can put into effect any changes to voting practices or procedures. Under the statute, federal approval requires proof that the proposed change does “not have the purpose and will not have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color [or membership in a language minority group].” • Section 203 of the Act which requires certain jurisdictions to provide bilingual language assistance to voters in communities where there is a concentration of citizens who are limited English proficient. This provision was added to the VRA in 1975. • The portions of Sections 6-9 of the Act which authorize the federal government to send federal election examiners and observers to certain jurisdictions covered by S
