Language minority provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) require that certain states and political subdivisions provide language assistance during elections for certain language minority groups who are unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process. The language provisions of the VRA were introduced in the 1975 reauthorization with the first listing of Section 203 covered jurisdictions being issued following the 1980 Census. The determinations were released again following the 1990 and 2000 Census as prescribed by law. The 2006 reauthorization of the VRA extended the language provisions through 2032 and instructed the Census Bureau on two changes: Use the American Community Survey; conduct the determinations every five years rather than every ten years as done in the past.
The language minority groups covered by Section 203 are those that speak Asian, American Indian, Alaska Native, and Spanish languages.
Determinations for each state, county or county subdivision (depending on which is the operating level of government), and American Indian/Alaska Native Areas (AIA/ANA), are then computed based on the following:
OR
AND
THEN:
Note: If it is determined that an AIA/ANA meets the above criteria for the reservation, then any political subdivision that contains that AIA/ANA is covered.
The underlying calculations for every jurisdiction evaluated for possible coverage in the December 8, 2021 Determinations.