When Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it determined that racial discrimination in voting had been more prevalent in certain areas of the country. Section 4(a) of the Act established a formula to identify those areas and to provide for more stringent remedies where appropriate.

Section 4(b)? Defines the covered districts as ones that had any type of voting test in place as of November 1, 1964 and less than 50% turnout in the 1964 presidential election. They violated states rights to determine their election laws and procedures under Article IV of the US Constitution.

The ban on literacy tests now applies to all elections. Some States and counties have been removed from the law’s coverage through the bail-out process. – To be removed, a State or county must show that it has not applied any voting procedures in a discriminatory way for at least 10 years.

Section 4(b) contained a coverage formula designed to encompass jurisdictions that were the most pervasively discriminatory and hold them liable to special provisions within the Voting Rights Act, to ensure that previously-barred minorities within those jurisdictions would be protected and able to practice their right …

Under Section 5, any change with respect to voting in a covered jurisdiction — or any political subunit within it — cannot legally be enforced unless and until the jurisdiction first obtains the requisite determination by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or makes a submission to the …

Article Four of the United States Constitution outlines the relationship between the various states, as well as the relationship between each state and the United States federal government. It also empowers Congress to admit new states and administer the territories and other federal lands.

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

The Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs. It also strengthened the enforcement of voting rights and the desegregation of schools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the nation’s benchmark civil rights legislation, and it continues to resonate in America.

The Supreme Court decision does not overturn Section 5 directly, but for all intents and purposes it renders it obsolete. The decision itself overturned Section 4 which set guidelines for what state or municipality should fall under its jurisdiction.

The information regarding bailout under Section 4 (a) and past bailout cases is presented here on this archive page for historical purposes. When Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it determined that racial discrimination in voting had been more prevalent in certain areas of the country.

In “partially covered” states, the special provisions applied only to the identified counties. Voting changes adopted by or to be implemented in covered political subdivisions, including changes applicable to the state as a whole, are subject to review under Section 5.