--- title: "Section 5 Voting Rights Act | Civil Rights" description: "Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required certain states to get federal approval before changing voting rules, protecting minority voting rights in Civil Rights." canonical: "https://fiveable.me/civil-rights-civil-liberties/key-terms/section-5" type: "key-term" subject: "Civil Rights and Civil Liberties" unit: "Unit 6" --- # Section 5 Voting Rights Act | Civil Rights ## Definition Section 5 is the Voting Rights Act rule that required certain places with long histories of voting discrimination to get federal approval before changing election laws. In Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, it shows how the federal government tried to stop voter suppression before it happened. ## What It Is Section 5 is the part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that made some states and local governments ask the federal government before changing voting rules. Those changes could include redistricting plans, polling-place moves, registration rules, or new election procedures. The whole point was simple: stop discriminatory changes before they could block minority voters. This is called preclearance. Instead of waiting for people to sue after a bad law was already in place, covered jurisdictions had to prove the change would not make voting worse for protected groups. That mattered because many voting barriers were subtle. A rule did not have to say, "No Black voters allowed" to have a discriminatory effect. Sometimes a change looked neutral on paper but made it harder to register, vote, or have votes counted. Section 5 did not apply everywhere. It targeted jurisdictions with a record of racial discrimination in voting, based on a coverage formula tied to past use of tools like literacy tests and other voter suppression methods. That is why it became such a powerful federal check on state election law in the South and other covered areas. For this course, the big idea is federal power versus state control. Section 5 shows the Constitution in action when equal voting rights are being threatened. It also connects to the Reconstruction Amendments, especially the Fifteenth Amendment, because Congress used its power to enforce the ban on racial discrimination in voting. The law changed after Shelby County v. Holder, when the Supreme Court struck down the coverage formula that determined which places were subject to preclearance. That decision weakened Section 5 in practice because the preclearance system could not operate the same way without an active formula. So when you see Section 5 in a reading, think "advance review to prevent discriminatory election changes," not just "another voting law." ## Why It Matters Section 5 matters because it is one of the clearest examples of the federal government stepping in to protect civil rights when states had a history of ignoring them. In Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, that makes it a perfect case for discussing how constitutional rights are enforced, not just written down. It also gives you a concrete way to talk about voting rights beyond the Fifteenth Amendment. A law can ban racial discrimination in theory, but Section 5 was designed to stop the loopholes, workarounds, and local election changes that still kept minority voters out. That is why it shows up in discussions of the Civil Rights Movement, the Voting Rights Act, and modern debates over voter suppression. You will also see Section 5 used to explain the impact of legal decisions. Shelby County v. Holder is often paired with Section 5 because it changed how much power the federal government had to review election changes before they took effect. If a prompt asks how a court case affected voting rights, Section 5 is usually part of the answer. ## Connections ### Voting Rights Act of 1965 Section 5 is one part of the Voting Rights Act, so you should always connect it back to the larger law. The Act attacked several forms of disenfranchisement at once, including literacy tests and other barriers used to keep Black voters from registering or voting. Section 5 handled the preapproval piece, which made the whole law much stronger. ### Preclearance Preclearance is the process Section 5 created. If a covered jurisdiction wanted to change an election rule, it had to get approval first instead of waiting for a lawsuit later. When you see a question about federal oversight of voting laws, preclearance is the mechanism you should look for. ### [Shelby County v. Holder](/civil-rights-civil-liberties/key-terms/shelby-county-v-holder) This case matters because it weakened the practical reach of Section 5 by striking down the coverage formula. That did not erase the idea of preclearance, but it did make the old system much harder to use. In class, the case is often the legal turning point between strong federal oversight and weaker protection. ### [voter intimidation](/civil-rights-civil-liberties/key-terms/voter-intimidation) Section 5 was meant to stop voting changes that could support intimidation or exclusion, even when the rule looked neutral. Intimidation can be direct, like threats, or indirect, like shifting polling places in ways that burden certain communities. Section 5 gave the federal government a way to block those changes before they shaped an election. ## On the AP Exam A short-answer question may ask you to identify why a state voting change had to be reviewed before taking effect. Your move is to connect the change to Section 5 and explain that it was a preclearance rule meant to prevent discrimination, not just punish it after the fact. In a case analysis or document-based prompt, look for clues like a state election law, a county with a history of racial discrimination, or a discussion of federal oversight. If the question mentions a change to registration, district lines, or polling locations, Section 5 is often the term that fits. If Shelby County v. Holder appears, explain how it limited the Section 5 system by removing the old coverage formula. ## Section 5 vs Section 4 Section 5 and Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act are often mixed up because they worked together. Section 4 set the coverage formula, which decided which places were subject to special oversight, while Section 5 required those covered places to get approval before changing voting laws. If Section 4 is gone or weakened, Section 5 cannot work the same way. ## Key Takeaways - Section 5 is the Voting Rights Act rule that required certain jurisdictions to get federal approval before changing voting laws. - Its main purpose was to stop discriminatory election changes before they could suppress minority voters. - The process is called preclearance, and it is a classic example of federal power being used to enforce voting rights. - Section 5 is tied to the history of voter suppression, especially literacy tests and other barriers used against Black voters. - Shelby County v. Holder weakened Section 5 by striking down the coverage formula that decided which places were covered. ## FAQs ### What is Section 5 in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties? Section 5 is the part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required some states and local governments to get federal approval before changing election laws. It was designed to block discriminatory voting changes before they could take effect. In this course, it is a major example of civil rights enforcement. ### What does preclearance mean in Section 5? Preclearance means a covered jurisdiction had to clear voting changes with the federal government first. That could include changes to polling places, district maps, or election procedures. The goal was to prevent new voting barriers from being put into place quietly. ### How is Section 5 different from the Voting Rights Act? The Voting Rights Act is the full law, and Section 5 is one part of it. The Act banned many forms of voting discrimination, while Section 5 focused on federal review of changes in covered areas. So if a question asks about approval before a voting change, Section 5 is the specific term you want. ### Why does Shelby County v. Holder matter for Section 5? Shelby County v. Holder struck down the coverage formula that determined which jurisdictions were subject to Section 5. Without that formula, the preclearance system could not function the same way. That is why the case is often treated as a major turning point for voting rights. ## Related Study Guides - [6.1 Voting Rights Act of 1965](/civil-rights-civil-liberties/unit-6/voting-rights-act-1965/study-guide/kQ12lgLBQMWEyjg5) ## About This Document Canonical Fiveable pages are available as Markdown at the same path plus `.md`. - [llms.txt](https://fiveable.me/llms.txt): index of Fiveable's sections and URL patterns - [llms-full.txt](https://fiveable.me/llms-full.txt): complete subject and unit listing - [MCP server](https://fiveable.me/mcp): call Fiveable as tools instead of fetching pages (`https://fiveable.me/api/mcp`) - [MCP server for AP teachers](https://fiveable.me/mcp/teachers): a teacher's classes, assignments and AP-rubric grading (`https://fiveable.me/api/mcp/teacher`) ## Structured Data ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"LearningResource","@id":"https://fiveable.me/civil-rights-civil-liberties/key-terms/section-5#resource","name":"Section 5 Voting Rights Act | Civil Rights","url":"https://fiveable.me/civil-rights-civil-liberties/key-terms/section-5","learningResourceType":"Concept explainer","educationalLevel":"AP® / High School","about":{"@id":"https://fiveable.me/civil-rights-civil-liberties/key-terms/section-5#term"},"audience":{"@type":"EducationalAudience","educationalRole":"student"},"dateModified":"2026-07-03T02:21:15.319Z","isPartOf":{"@type":"Collection","name":"Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Key Terms","url":"https://fiveable.me/civil-rights-civil-liberties/key-terms"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Fiveable","url":"https://fiveable.me"}},{"@type":"DefinedTerm","@id":"https://fiveable.me/civil-rights-civil-liberties/key-terms/section-5#term","name":"Section 5","description":"Section 5 is the Voting Rights Act rule that required certain places with long histories of voting discrimination to get federal approval before changing election laws. 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