On December 5, 2016, the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau issued a notice of determination identifying the jurisdictions subject to the language assistance provisions of Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which are available at 81 Federal Register 87532. The new Section 203 determinations, which are described in detail in the Voting Rights Act Coverage Update, replace the previous Section 203 determinations made in October 2011.
Key features of the new determinations include the following:
• The number of states covered in whole or in part by Section 203 has increased from 25states to 29.
• All of the states previously covered in part continue to be covered, and four new states earned partial coverage since 2011: Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, and Oklahoma.
• Los Angeles County, California, continues to be the locale required to provide assistance in the most languages (6 languages): Spanish, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, and Vietnamese.