42 USC 1973 - Sec. 1973. Denial or abridgement

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(a) No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color, or in contravention of the guarantees set forth in section 1973b(f)(2) of this title, as provided in subsection (b) of this section. (b) A violation of subsection (a) of this section is established if, based on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or election in the State or political subdivision are not equally open to participation by members of a class of citizens protected by subsection (a) of this section in that its members have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.

The extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to office in the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which may be considered: Provided, That nothing in this section establishes a right to have members of a protected class elected in numbers equal to their proportion in the population.



Amendments

1982 - Pub. L. 97-205 redesignated existing provisions as subsec. (a), struck out the comma after "voting", substituted "in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of" for "to deny or abridge", inserted ", as provided in subsection (b) of this section" after "in contravention of the guarantees set forth in section 1973b(f)(2) of this title", and added subsec. (b). 1975 - Pub. L. 94-73 substituted "race or color, or in contravention of the guarantees set forth in section 1973b(f)(2) of this title" for "race or color".

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1982 AMENDMENT

Section 6 of Pub. L. 97-205 provided that: "Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the amendments made by this Act [see Short Title of 1982 Amendment note below] shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [June 29, 1982]." SHORT TITLE This subchapter and subchapters I-B and I-C of this chapter known as the "Voting Rights Act of 1965", see Short Title note set out under section 1971 of this title.

SEPARABILITY Section 208 of Pub. L. 94-73 provided that: "If any amendments made by this Act [enacting sections 1973aa-1a and 1973aa-5 of this title, amending this section and sections 1973a to 1973d, 1973h, 1973i, 1973k, 1973l, 1973aa, 1973aa-2, 1973aa-3, 1973bb, 1973bb-1 of this title, and repealing sections 1973bb-2 to 1973bb-4 of this title] or the application of any provision thereof to any person or circumstance is judicially determined to be invalid, the remainder of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [this subchapter and subchapters I-B and I-C of this chapter], or the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected by such determination."

Section Referred To In Other Sections

This section is referred to in section 1973j of this title.
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