Under Section 203, a federal agency relies upon census data to designate specific jurisdictions as “Section 203 jurisdictions.” Section 203 jurisdictions are mandated to provide translated versions of instructions, assistance, materials, information, and other voting information available in English in the covered minority group’s language.
Section 203 jurisdictions are those that meet certain criteria related to populations of minority groups who speak languages other than English. A jurisdiction is covered under Section 203 when the number of United States citizens of voting age in a single language group within the jurisdiction:
- Is more than 10,000, or
- Is more than five percent of all voting age citizens, or
- On an Indian reservation, exceeds five percent of all reservation residents; and
- The illiteracy rate of the group is higher than the national illiteracy rate