Voting Rights Act (VRA)

The Voting Rights Act (VRA), 42 U.S.C. 1973

Basics

• Text of the VRA
• Overview of the VRA
• The VRA’s Disability Provision

Section 208 of the VRA’s assistance of choice provision guarantees the right of people with disabilities to have voting assistance from a person they choose. The legal cite for Section 208 is 42 U.S.C. §§1973aa and the provision reads:

Voting assistance for blind, disabled or illiterate persons

Any voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter's choice, other than the voter's employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter's union

VRA Renewal 
Key provisions of the VRA are up for reauthorization in 2007, read below to learn more.

• One pager on VRA and Renewal (PDF)
• Renew the VRA
• NDRN Celebrates 40 Years of Voting Rights Act Calls for Continued Protection of Voting Access for All

Related Links

• National Commission on the Voting Rights Act
• Department of Justice, Voting Section
• Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law Voting Rights Project
• League of Woman Voters