Voting Rights Act of 1965
4 amendmentstracked · Side-by-side comparison of previous and amended text
View amendments for other laws:
Extended the Act for five years and lowered the voting age to 18 for federal elections.
The special provisions of this Act, including the preclearance requirement of Section 5, shall be in effect for a period of five years.
The special provisions are extended for an additional five years, the nationwide ban on literacy tests is made permanent, and the minimum voting age for federal elections is lowered to 18.
Extended the Act for seven years and added protections for language minority groups.
Protections apply to racial minorities in covered jurisdictions with histories of discriminatory voting practices.
Protections are extended to language minority groups including Hispanic, Asian American, Native American, and Alaska Native citizens. Covered jurisdictions must provide bilingual voting materials where language minorities exceed 5% of voting-age citizens.
Extended preclearance for 25 years and added a 'results test' for Section 2 violations.
A violation of Section 2 requires proof that a voting practice was adopted with discriminatory intent.
A violation of Section 2 may be established by showing that the totality of circumstances demonstrates that a voting practice results in the denial or abridgement of the right to vote on account of race or color, without requiring proof of discriminatory intent.
Reauthorized the expiring provisions of the Act for 25 years, including Section 5 preclearance.
The temporary provisions of the Act, including Section 5 preclearance, are set to expire in 2007.
The temporary provisions including Section 5 preclearance are reauthorized through 2031, with Congress finding continued evidence of voting discrimination in covered jurisdictions.