Voting Rights Act definition

What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 do?

The 1965 law set some rules for the whole country and extra rules for certain states and counties, which the law calls “covered jurisdictions.” A state or county was covered if in 1964, it made people pass a test before they could register to vote, and fewer than half of its voting-age residents were registered or voted in that year's presidential election.

In covered states and counties, the law banned any test required to register or vote. These included literacy tests, which made a person read, write, or explain a passage before they could register, and tests of good moral character. The federal government could also send its own examiners to register voters and observers to watch the polls.

Officials in covered states and counties had to get approval from the attorney general or a federal court in Washington, DC, before they changed any voting rule. That process is called “preclearance.”

Nationwide, Section 2 of the VRA bars any voting qualification or practice that denies or limits the right to vote based on race, color, or membership in a language minority group. Congress added those language minority groups to the VRA in 1975. The law defines them as people who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Native, or of Spanish heritage.

In a 1968 report, the US Commission on Civil Rights found that non-white voter registration in southern states increased from 35.5% before the law to 57.2% after it.

How often is the Voting Rights Act of 1965 renewed?

Congress has amended the VRA five times, in 1970, 1975, 1982, 1992, and 2006.

Some parts of the law carry expiration dates, so Congress has to renew them. For example, the rule requiring some places to provide election materials in other languages runs until 2032.

Section 2 has no expiration date.

Is the Voting Rights Act of 1965 still in effect?

The Voting Rights Act is still federal law, and two Supreme Court rulings have changed how parts of it work.

In 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Court struck down the Section 4(b) coverage formula, the test that decided which states and counties needed preclearance. Preclearance no longer applies anywhere unless a federal court orders it for a specific place.

On April 29, 2026, in Louisiana v. Callais, the Court narrowed Section 2 in redistricting cases. It held that Section 2 is violated "only when the evidence supports a strong inference that the State intentionally drew its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race."