The Voting Rights Act of 1965 contains a number of protections of the right to vote, 52 U.S.C. §§ 10301 to 10702, as do the earlier the Civil Rights Acts, 52 U.S.C. §§ 10101, 20701 to 20706. Specifically, the Voting Rights Act:

1. • extends a nationwide prohibition on voting practices by states and local jurisdictions that have the purpose or result of denying or abridging the right of any citizen to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a protected language minority group;

2. • protects the ability of voters who need assistance in voting due to blindness, disability, or inability to read or write to receive assistance from a person of the voter’s choice (other than a representative of the voter’s employer or union);

3. • requires certain covered jurisdictions to provide election materials in one or more languages in addition to English so that citizens who are members of covered language minority groups can participate effectively in the electoral process;

4. • prohibits any person acting under color of law from denying eligible persons the right to vote or failing or refusing to count their votes;

5. • prohibits intimidation, threats, or coercion of persons for voting or attempting to vote, or for urging or aiding a person to vote or attempt to vote;

6. • prohibits jurisdictions from denying the right to vote based on tests or devices, such as literacy tests, understanding tests, educational achievement requirements, moral character requirements, and requirements that registrants prove their qualifications by having other persons vouch for them;

7. • authorizes time-limited relief in certain cases for federal observers to monitor elections or for courts or the Department of Justice to review changes in election procedures; and

8. • authorizes civil actions against the imposition of a poll tax and certain durational residency requirements in presidential elections, and to enforce the Twenty-sixth Amendment, which prohibits the denial of the right to vote on account of age of anyone over the age of 18.

[added March 2018]