U.S. flag
              An official website of the United States government Skip to main content   end of header Census.gov Newsroom Releases 2010 Census
 Newsroom Archive
 Skip left menu navigation
 About the Newsroom
 				Facts for Features
 				**News Releases**
 				Press Kits
 				Tip Sheets
 Release Information REVISED: CB11-CN.189 **Contact:**  Public Information Office
301-763-3030
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  WEDNESDAY, OCT. 12, 2011 Census Bureau Releases 2011 Determinations of Political Jurisdictions Subject to Minority Language Assistance Provisions of Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act Pursuant to specifications in the Voting Rights Act as amended  in July 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau released today a list of 248 jurisdictions  across the nation that must provide language assistance during elections for  groups who are unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to  participate in the electoral process. The list, which will be published in the Federal Register  tomorrow, identifies which jurisdictions are covered by Section 203 of the  Voting Rights Act and must provide language assistance for Hispanic, American  Indian and Alaska Native, and Asian language groups.  The Census Bureau has made these  determinations following each decennial census since Section 203 was enacted in  1975. In 2006, Congress specified that the Census Bureau shall use statistics  from the American Community Survey to make the determinations following the  2010 Census. The 248 covered  jurisdictions are 3.1 percent of the 2,920 counties and 4,972 minor civil  divisions that comprise the political subdivisions in the United States. **There are 65,596,005 voting age eligible citizens in the covered jurisdictions, or 30.7 percent of the total U.S. citizen voting age population**. The determinations found a  total national population of 19,209,431 voting-age citizens from the language  minority groups that reside in the 248 covered jurisdictions, compared with  13,463,635 and 296 jurisdictions in 2002, an increase of 42.7 percent. The  determinations found a total of 14,794,716 Hispanics, 4,030,110 Asians and 384,605 American Indian/Alaskan Natives voting-age citizens in the  covered jurisdictions. Consistent with the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act  in 2006, the determinations were processed using data from the 2005-2009  American Community Survey estimates. Census Bureau statisticians also used  modeling techniques based on the 2010 Census population counts to improve the  accuracy of the results. A complete listing of which jurisdictions are covered, and for which language  minority groups, can be found on the Federal Register Notice Public Inspection  site: <http://www.ofr.gov/inspection.aspx>. The  Federal Register Notice will be available tomorrow, Oct. 13. For more  information, please visit: https://www.census.gov/rdo/data/voting_rights_determination_file.html.
 
 CONNECT WITH US

Information Quality
                    Data Linkage Infrastructure
                    Data Protection and Privacy Policy
                    Accessibility      
                    FOIA
                    Inspector General
                    No FEAR Act
                    U.S. Department of Commerce
                    USA.gov
                   Measuring America's People, Places, and Economy