Language Provisions Under the Voting Rights Act: How Effective Are They?

As the Voting Rights Act (VRA) comes up for renewal in 2007, its effects on the political incorporation of groups other than African Americans will be of key importance in any debate. Among the questions in any such discussion will be whether the language provisions of the VRA have helped enfranchise "linguistic minorities" in the United States, or whether their effect has been largely symbolic. Second, if the Voting Rights Act "has" had a positive impact on the participation rates of Asian Americans and Latinos, have these effects been tilted toward first-generation immigrants-who were not the intended beneficiaries of the Act-rather than native-born minorities? Copyright (c) 2005 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.