276
Opinion of the Court
fies various details about how these systems must work, including, for example, the type of information that States can require on a voter registration form. §§ 1973gg-3(c)(2), 1973gg-7(b). It also imposes requirements about just when, and how, States may remove people from the federal voter rolls. §§ 1973gg-6(a)(3), (4). The NVRA adds that it does not "supersede, restrict or limit the application of the Voting Rights Act of 1965," and that it does not "authoriz[e] or requir[e] conduct that is prohibited by the Voting Rights Act of 1965." § 1973gg-9(d).
The Voting Rights Act
Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), among other things, prohibits a State with a specified history of voting discrimination, such as Mississippi, from "enact[ing] or seek[ing] to administer any . . . practic[e], or procedure with respect to voting different from that in force or effect on November 1, 1964," unless and until the State obtains preclearance from the United States Attorney General (Attorney General) or the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. § 1973c. Preclearance is, in effect, a determination that the change "does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color." Ibid. In the language of § 5 jurisprudence, this determination involves a determination that the change is not retrogressive. Beer v. United States, 425 U. S. 130, 141 (1976); 28 CFR § 51.54(a) (1996).
B
The case before us concerns three different Mississippi voting registration systems: The first system, which we shall call the "Old System," is that used by Mississippi before it tried to comply with the NVRA. The second system, the "Provisional Plan," is a system aimed at NVRA compliance, which Mississippi tried to implement for about six weeks between January 1, 1995, and February 10, 1995. The third
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007