An Act to enforce the 15th amendment to the Constitution of the United States
PL 89-110 (S.1564), enacted 08/06/1965

75 Stat. 824. 
42 u s e 247a. 
79 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-110-AUGUST 6, 1965 
437 
SPECIAL PROJECT GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES 
SEC. 5. The first sentence of subsection (a) of section 316 of such 
Act is amended by striking out "first five fiscal years ending after 
June 30, 1961" and inserting in lieu thereof "first six fiscal years 
ending after June 30,1961". 
Approved August 5, 1965. 
Public Law 89-110 
AN A C T 
August 6, 1965 
To enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 
l^^' ^^^'^^ 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That this Act shall A^t°lf"i9^5^'^*^ 
be known as the "Voting Rights Act of 1965". 
SEC. 2. No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, 
practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or 
political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of 
the United States to vote on account of race or color. 
SEC. 3. (a) Whenever the Attorney General institutes a proceeding ^^^5'*'''^^^ ''^'"^' 
under any statute to enforce the guarantees of the fifteenth amend-
ment in any State or political subdivision the court shall authorize 
the appointment of Federal examiners by the United States Civil 
Service Commission in accordance with section 6 to serve for such 
period of time and for such political subdivisions as the court shall 
determine is appropriate to enforce the guarantees of the fifteenth 
amendment (1) as part of any interlocutory order if the court deter-
mines that the appointment of such examiners is necessary to enforce 
such guarantees or (2) as part of any final judgment if the court finds 
that violations of the fifteenth amendment justifying equitable relief 
have occurred in such State or subdivision: Provided^ That the court 
need not authorize the appointment of examiners if any incidents of 
, 
denial or abridgement of the right to vote on account of race or color 
(1) have been few in number and have been promptly and effectively 
corrected by State or local action, (2) the continuing effect of such 
incidents has been eliminated, and (3) there is no reasonable proba-
bility of their recurrence in the future. 
(b) If in a proceeding instituted by the Attorney General under 
any statute to enforce the .guarantees of the fifteenth amendment in 
any State or political subdivision the court finds that a test or device 
has been used for the purpose or with the effect of denying or abridg-
ing the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account 
of race or color, it shall suspend the use of tests and devices in such 
State or political subdivisions as the court shall determine is appro-
priate and for such period as it deems necessary. 
(c) If in any proceeding instituted by the Attorney General under 
any statute to enforce the guarantees of the fifteenth amendment in 
any State or political subdivision the court finds that violations of the 
fifteenth amendment justifying equitable relief have occurred within 
the territory of such State or political subdivision, the court, in 
addition to such relief as it may grant, ishall retain jurisdiction for 
such period as it may deem appropriate and during such period no 
voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, 
or procedure with respect to voting different from that in force or 
effect at the time the proceeding was commenced shall be enforced 
unless and until the court finds that such qualification, prerequisite, 
standard, practice, or procedure does not have the purpose and will 
not have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on 
438 
PUBLIC LAW 89-110-AUGUST 6, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
Use of tests or 
devices pro-
hibited. 
Declaratory 
judgment pro-
ceedings. 
62 Stat. 968. 
Publication in 
Federal Register, 
" T e s t or de-
v i c e . " 
account of race or color: Provided^ That such qualification, pre-
requisite, standard, practice, or procedure may be enforced if the 
qualification, prerequisite, standard, practice, or procedure has been 
submitted by the chief legal officer or other appropriate oflEicial of. 
such State or subdivision to the Attorney General and the Attorney 
General has not interposed an objection within sixty days after such 
submission, except that neither the court's finding nor the Attorney 
General's failure to object shaill bar a subsequent action to enjoin 
enforcement of such qualification, prerequisite, standard, practice, or 
procedure. 
SEC. 4. (a) To assure that the right of citizens of the United States 
to vote is not denied or abridged on account of race or color, no 
citizen shall be denied the right to vote in any Federal, State, or local 
election because of his failure to comply with any test or device in any 
State with respect to which the determinations have been made under 
subsection (b) or in any political subdivision with respect to which 
such determinations have been made as a separate unit, unless the 
United States District Court for the District of Columbia in an 
action for a declaratory judgment brought by such State or sub-
division against the United States has determined that no such test 
or device has been used during the five years preceding the filing of 
the action for the purpose or with the effect of denying or abridging 
the right to vote on account of race or color: Promded^ That no such 
declaratory judgment shall issue with respect to any plaintiff for a 
period of five years after the entry of a final judgment of any court 
of the United States, other than the denial of a declaratory judgment 
under this section, whether entered prior to or after the enactment of 
this Act, determining that denials or abridgments of the right to vote 
on account of race or color through the use of such tests or devices 
have occurred anywhere in the territory of such plaintiff. 
An action pursuant to this subsection shall be heard and determined 
by a court of three judges in accordance with the provisions of sec-
tion 2284 of title 28 of the United States Code and any appeal shall 
lie to the Supreme Court. 
The court shall retain jurisdiction of any 
action pursuant to this subsection for five years after judgment and 
shall reopen the action upon motion of the Attorney General alleging 
that a test or device has been used for the purpose or with the effect of 
denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color. 
If the Attorney General determines that he has no reason to 
believe that any such test or device has been used during the five 
years preceding the filing of the action for the purpose or with the 
effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race 
or color, he shall consent to the entry of such judgment. 
(b) The provisions of subsection (a) shall apply in any State or in 
any political subdivision of a state which (1) the Attorney General 
determines maintained on November 1, 1964, any test or device, and 
with respect to which (2) the Director of the Census determines 
that less than 50 per centum of the persons of voting age residing 
therein were registered on November 1, 1964, or that less than 50 
per centum of such persons voted in the presidential election of 
November 1964. 
A determination or certification of the Attorney General or of the 
Director of the Census under this section or under section 6 or 
section 13 shall not be reviewable in any court and shall be effective 
upon publication in the Federal Register. 
(c) The phrase "test or device" shall mean any requirement that 
a person as a prerequisite for voting or registration for voting (1) 
demonstrate the ability to read, write, understand, or interpret any 
matter, (2) demonstrate any educational achievement or his knowl-
79 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LA\V 8 9 - 1 1 0 - A U G U S T 6, 1965 
439 
eda:e of any particular subject, (3) possess good moral character, or 
(4) prove his qualifications by the voucher of registered voters or 
members of any other class. 
(d) For purposes of this section no State or political subdivision 
shall be determined to have engaged in the use of tests or devices 
for the purpose or with the effect of denying or abridging the right 
to vote on account of race or color if (1) incidents of such use 
have been few in number and have been promptly and effectively 
corrected by State or local action, (2) the continuing effect of such 
incidents has been eliminated, and (3) there is no reasonable prob-
ability of their recurrence in the future. 
(e) (1) Congress hereby declares that to secure the rights under the 
fourteenth amendment of persons educated in American-flag schools 
in which the predominant classroom language was other than English, 
it is necessary to prohibit the States from conditioning the right to 
vote of such persons on ability to read, write, understand, or interpret 
any matter in the English language. 
(2) No person who demonstrates that he has successfully completed 
the sixth primary grade in a public school in, or a private school 
accredited by, any State or territory, the District of Columbia, or the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in which the predominant classroom 
language was other than English, shall be denied the right to vote 
in any Federal, State, or local election because of his inability to read, 
write, understand, or interpret any matter in the English language, 
except that in States in which State law provides that a different level 
of education is presumptive of literacy, he shall demonstrate that he 
has successfully completed an equivalent level of education in a public 
school in, or a private school accredited by, any State or territory, the 
District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in which 
the predominant classroom language was other than English. 
SEC. 5. Whenever a State or political subdivision with respect to 
which the prohibitions set forth in section 4(a) are in effect shall 
enact or seek to administer any voting qualification or prerequisite to 
voting, or standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting 
different from that in force or effect on November 1, 1964, such 
State or subdivision may institute an action in the United States 
District Court for the District of Columbia for a declaratory judg-
ment that such qualification, prerequisite, standard, practice, or 
procedure does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of 
denying or abridging the right tx) vote on account of race or color, 
and unless and until the court enters such judgment no person shall 
be denied the right to vote for failure to comply with such qualifi-
cation, prerequisite, standard, practice, or procedure: 
Provided^ 
That such qualification, prerequisite, standard, practice, or procedure 
may be enforced without such proceeding if the qualification, pre-
requisite, standard, practice, or procedure has been submitted by 
the chief legal officer or other appropriate official of such State or 
subdivision to the Attorney General and the Attorney General has 
not interposed an objection within sixty days after such submission, 
except that neither the Attorney General's failure to object nor a 
declaratory judgment entered under this section shall bar a subse-
quent action to enjoin enforcement of such qualification, prerequisite, 
standard, practice, or procedure. iVny action under this section shall 
be heard and determined by a court of three judges in accordance 
with the provisions of section 2284 of title 28 of the United States 
Code and any appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court. 
^2 stat. 968. 
SEC. 6. Whenever (a) a court has authorized the appointment of 
Appointment o
f 
examiners pursuant to the provisions of section 3(a), or (b) unless ^''^'"^"^'•^* 
a declaratory judgment has been rendered under section 4(a), the 
440 
PUBLIC LAW 89-110-AUGUST 6, 1965 
[79 
STAT. 
53 Stat. 1148; 
64 Stat. 475. 
Duties of ex-
aminers. 
List of eligible 
voters. 
Attorney General certifies with respect to any political subdivision 
named in, or included within the scope of, determinations made 
under section 4(b) that (1) he has received complaints in writ-
ing from twenty or more residents of such political subdivision 
alleging that they have been denied the right to vote under color of 
law on account of race or color, and that he believes such complaints 
to be meritorious, or (2) that in his judgment (considering, among 
other factors, whether the ratio of nonwhite persons to white persons 
registered to vote within such subdivision appears to him to be reason-
ably attributable to violations of the fifteenth amendment or whether 
substantial evidence exists that bona fide efforts are being m.ade within 
such subdivision to comply with the fifteenth amendment), the 
appointment of examiners is otherwise necessary to enforce the 
guarantees of the fifteenth amendment, the Civil Service Commission 
shall appoint as many examiners for such subdivision as it may deem 
appropriate to prepare and maintain lists of persons eligible to vote 
in Federal, State, and local elections. 
Such examiners, hearing 
officers provided for in section 9(a), and other persons deemed neces-
sary by the Commission to carry out the provisions and purposes of 
this Act shall be appointed, compensated, and separated without 
regard to the provisions of any statute administered by the Civil 
Service Commission, and service under this Act shall not be con-
sidered employment for the purposes of any statute administered by 
the Civil Service Commission, except the provisions of section 9 of the 
Act of August 2, 1939, as amended (5 U.S.C. 118i), prohibiting parti-
san political activity: Provided, That the Commission is authorized, 
after consulting the head of the appropriate department or agency, to 
designate suitable persons in the official service of the United States, 
with their consent, to serve in these positions. Examiners and hear-
ing officers shall have the power to administer oaths. 
ISEC. 7. (a) The examiners for each political subdivision shall, at 
such places as the Civil Service Commission shall by regulation desig-
nate, examine applicants concerning their qualifications for voting. 
An application to an examiner shall be in such form as the Commission 
may require and shall contain allegations that the applicant is not 
otherwise registered to vote. 
(b) Any person whom the examiner finds, in accordance with 
instructions received under section 9 (b), to have the qualifications pre-
scribed by State law not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws 
of the United States shall promptly be placed on a list of eligible 
voters. A challenge to such listing may be made in accordance with 
section 9(a) and shall not be the basis for a prosecution under section 
12 of this Act. The examiner shall certify and transmit such list, 
and any supplements as appropriate, at least once a month, to the 
offices of the appropriate election officials, with copies to the Attorney 
General and the attorney general of the Stat©, and any such lists and 
supplements thereto transmitted during the month shall be available 
for public inspection on the last business day of the month and in 
any event not later than the forty-fifth day prior to any election. 
The appropriate State or local election official shall place such names 
on the official voting list. Any person whose name appears on the 
examiner's list shall be entitled and allowed to vote in the election 
district of his residence unless and until the appropriate election 
officials shall have been notified that such person has been removed 
from such list in accordance with subsection (d) : Provided, That no 
person shall be entitled to vote in any election by virtue of this Act 
79 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-110-AUGUST 6, 1965 
441 
unless his name shall have been certified and transmitted on such a list 
to the offices of the appropriate election officials at least forty-five days 
prior to such election. 
(c) The examiner shall issue to each person whose name appears 
on such a list a certificate evidencing his eligibility to vote. 
(d) A person whose name appears on such a list shall be removed 
therefrom by an examiner if (1) such person has been successfully 
challenged in accordance with the procedure prescribed in section 9, 
or (2) he has been determined by an examiner to have lost his eligi-
bility to vote under State law not inconsistent with the Constitution 
and the laws of the United States. 
SEC. 8. Whenever an examiner is serving under this Act in any poli- 
observers at 
tical subdivision, the Civil Service Commission may assign, at the 
request of the Attorney General, one or more persons, who may be 
officers of the United States, (1) to enter and attend at any place for 
holding an election in such subdivision for the purpose of observing 
whether persons who are entitled to vote are being permitted to vote, 
and (2) to enter and attend at any place for tabulating the votes cast 
at any election held in such subdivision for the purpose of observing 
whether votes cast by persons entitled to vote are being properly tabu-
lated. Such persons so assigned shall report to an examiner appointed 
for such political subdivision, to the Attorney General, and if the 
appointment of examiners has been authorized pursuant to section 
3(a), to the court. 
SEC. 9. (a) Any challenge to a listing on an eligibility list pre- i'?^^b^\^r^fstui s 
pared by an examiner shall be heard and determined by a hearing L^arings.^ 
officer appointed by and responsible to the Civil Service Commission 
and under such rules as the Commission shall by regulation pre-
scribe. 
Such challenge shall be entertained only if filed at such 
office within the State as the Civil Service Commission shall by 
regulation designate, and within ten days after the listing of the 
challenged person is made available for public inspection, and if 
suported by (1) the affidavits of at least two persons having personal 
knowledge of the facts constituting grounds for the challenge, and (2) 
a certification that a copy of the challenge and affidavits have been 
served by mail or in person upon the person challenged at his place 
of residence set out in the application. 
Such challenge shall be 
determined within fifteen days after it has been filed. A petition 
for review of the decision of the hearing officer may be filed in the 
United States court of appeals for the circuit in which the person 
challenged resides within fifteen days after service of such decision 
by mail on the person petitioning for review but no decision of a 
hearing officer shall be reversed unless clearly erroneous. Any person 
listed shall be entitled and allowed to vote pending final determi-
nation by the hearing officer and by the court. 
(b) The times, places, procedures, and form for application and 
Procedural 
listing pursuant to this Act and removals from the eligibility lists '
"
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shall be prescribed by regulations promulgated by the Civil Service 
Commission and the Commission shall, after consultation with the 
Attorney General, instruct examiners concerning applicable State 
law not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United 
States with respect to (1) the qualifications required for listing, and 
(2) loss of eligibility to vote. 
(c) Upon the request of the applicant or the challenger or on its 
subpena power. 
own motion the Civil Service Commission shall have the power to 
require by subpena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the 
49-850 0-66—31 
442 
PUBLIC LAW 89-110-AUGUST 6, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
production of documentary evidence relating to any matter pending 
before it under the authority of this section. 
In case of contumacy or 
refusal to obey a subpena, any district court of the United States or 
the United States court of any territory or possession, or the District 
Court of the United States for the District of Columbia, within the 
jurisdiction of which said person guilty of contumacy or refusal to obey 
is found or resides or is domiciled or transacts business, or has 
appointed an agent for receipt of service of process, upon application 
by the Attorney General of the United States shall have jurisdiction 
to issue to such person an order requiring such person to appear before 
the Commission or a hearing officer, there to produce pertinent, rele-
vant, and nonprivileged documentary evidence if so ordered, or there 
to give testimony touching the matter under investigation; and any 
failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by said court 
as a contempt thereof. 
pon tax. 
gj,^, 20. (a) The Congress finds that the requirement of the pay-
ment of a poll tax as a precondition to voting (i) precludes persons 
of limited means from voting or imposes unreasonable financial hard-
ship upon such persons as a precondition to their exercise of the 
franchise, (ii) does not bear a reasonable relationship to any legiti-
mate State interest in the conduct of elections, and (iii) in some 
areas has the purpose or effect of denying persons the right to vote 
because of race or color. 
Upon the basis of these findings. Congress 
declares that the constitutional right of citizens to vote is denied or 
abridged in some areas by the requirement of the payment of a poll 
tax as a precondition to voting. 
(b) In the exercise of the powers of Congress under section 6 of 
the fourteenth amendment and section 2 of the fifteenth amend-
ment, the Attorney General is authorized and directed to institute 
forthwith in the name of the United States such actions, including 
actions against States or political subdivisions, for declaratory judg-
ment or injunctive relief against the enforcement of any requirement 
of the payment of a poll tax as a precondition to voting, or substi-
tute therefor enacted after November 1, 1964, as will be necessary 
to implement the declaration of subsection (a) and the purposes of 
this section. 
(c) The district courts of the United States shall have jurisdic-
tion of such actions which shall be heard and determined by a court 
of three judges in accordance with the provisions of section 2284 of 
62 Stat. 9 68. 
title 28 of the United States Code and any appeal shall lie to the Su-
preme Court. 
It shall be the duty of the judges designated to hear 
the case to assign the case for hearing at the earliest practicable date, 
to participate in the hearing and determination thereof, and to cause 
the case to be in every way expedited. 
(d) During the pendency of such actions, and thereafter if the 
courts, notwithstanding this action by the Congress, should declare 
the requirement of the payment of a poll tax to be constitutional, no 
citizen of the United States who is a resident of a State or political 
subdivision with respect to which determinations have been made 
under subsection 4(b) and a declaratory judgment has not been 
entered under subsection 4(a), during the first year he becomes 
otherwise entitled to vote by reason of registration by State or local 
officials or listing by an examiner, shall be denied the right to vote 
79 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-110-AUGUST 6, 1965 
443 
for failure to pay a poll tax if he tenders payment of such tax for the 
current year to an examiner or to the appropriate State or local official 
at least forty-five days prior to election, whether or not such tender 
would be timely or adequate under State law. An examiner shall 
have authority to accept such payment from any person authorized by 
this Act to make an application for listing, and shall issue a receipt 
for such payment. 
The examiner shall transmit promptly any such 
poll tax payment to the office of the State or local official authorized to 
receive such payment under State law, together with the name and 
address of the applicant. 
SEC. 11. (a) No person acting under color of law shall fail or refuse 
to permit any person to vote who is entitled to vote under any pro-
vision of this Act or is otherwise qualified to vote, or willfully fail 
or refuse to tabulate, count, and report such person's vote. 
(b) No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, 
shall intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, 
or coerce any person for voting or attempting to vote, or intimidate, 
threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any 
person for urging or aiding any person to vote or attempt to vote, 
or intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for exercising any powers 
or duties under section 3(a), 6,8,9,10, or 12 (e). 
(c)Whoever knowingly or willfully gives false information as to 
his name, address, or period of residence in the voting district for the 
purpose of establishing his eligibility to register or vote, or conspires 
with another individual for the purpose of encouraging his false regis-
tration to vote or illegal voting, or pays or offers to pay or accepts 
payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined 
not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both : 
Provided^ hoioever^ That this provision shall be applicable only to 
general, special, or primary elections held solely or in part for the 
purpose of selecting or electing any candidate for the office of Presi-
dent, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the United States 
Senate, Member of the United States House of Representatives, or 
Delegates or Commissioners from the territories or possessions, or 
Resident Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 
(d) Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of an examiner 
or hearing officer knowingly and willfully falsifies or conceals a 
material fact, or makes any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements 
or representations, or makes or uses any false w^riting or documeni: 
knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent state-
ment or entry, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not 
more than five years, or both. 
SEC. 12. (a) Whoever shall deprive or attempt to deprive any per-
son of any right secured by section 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, or 10 or shall violate 
section 11 (a) or (b), shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned 
not more than five years, or both. 
(b) Whoever, within a year following an election in a political sub-
division in which an examiner has been appointed (1) destroys, 
defaces, mutilates, or otherwise alters the marking of a paper ballot 
which has been cast in such election, or (2) alters any official record 
of voting in such election tabulated from a voting machine or other-
wise, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than 
five years, or both. 
Prohibitions. 
Penalty. 
Applicability. 
444 
PUBLIC LAW 89-110-AUGUST 6, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
Injunctions, etc. 
Listing proce-
dures, termination. 
(c) Whoever conspires to violate the provisions of subsection (a) or 
(b) of this section, or interferes with any right secured by section 2, 
3, 4, 6, 7, 10, or 11 (a) or (b) shall be fined not more than $5,000, or 
imprisoned not more than five years, or both. 
(d) Whenever any person has engaged or there are reasonable 
grounds to believe that any person is about to engage in any act or 
practice prohibited by section 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, or subsection (b) of 
this section, the Attorney General may institute for the United States, 
or in the name of the United States, an action for preventive relief, 
including an application for a temporary or permanent injunction, 
restraining order, or other order, and including an order directed to 
the State and State or local election officials to require them (1) to 
permit persons listed under this 'Act to vote and (2) to count such 
votes. 
(e) Whenever in any political subdivision in which there are exam-
iners appointed pursuant to this Act any persons allege to such an 
examiner within forty-ei^ht hours after the closing of the polls that 
notwithstanding (1) their listing under this Act or registration by 
an appropriate election official and (2) their eligibility to vote, they 
have not been permitted to vote in such election, the examiner shall 
forthwith notify the Attorney General if such allegations in his 
opinion appear to be well founded. 
Upon receipt of such notification, 
the Attorney General may forthwith file with the district court an 
application for an order providing for the marking, casting, and count-
ing of the ballots of such persons and requiring the inclusion of their 
votes in the total vote before the results of such election shall be deemed 
final and any force or effect given thereto. 
The district court shall 
hear and determine such matters immediately after the filing of such 
application. 
The remedy provided in this subsection shall not pre-
clude any remedy available under State or Federal law. 
(f) The district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction 
of proceedings instituted pursuant to this section and shall exercise the 
same without regard to whether a person asserting rights under the 
provisions of this Act shall have exhausted any administrative or 
other remedies that may be provided by law. 
SEC. 13. Listing procedures shall be terminated in any political S|Ub-
division of any State (a) with respect to examiners appointed pursuant 
to clause (b) of section 6 whenever the Attorney General notifies the 
Civil Service Commission, or whenever the District Court for the 
District of Columbia determines in an action for declaratory judgment 
brought by any political subdivision with respect to which the Director 
of the Census has, determined that more than 50 per centum of the 
nonwhite persons of voting age residing therein are registered to 
vote, (1) that all persons listed by an examiner for such subdivision 
have Ibeen placed on the appropriate voting registration roll, and 
(2) that there is no longer reasonable cause to believe that persons 
will be deprived of or denied the right to vote on account of race or 
color in such subdivision, and (b), with respect to examiners appointed 
pursuant to section 3(a), upon order of the authorizing court. 
A 
political subdivision may petition the Attorney General for the termi-
nation of listing procedures under clause (a) of this section, and may 
petition the Attorney General to request the Director of the Census to 
take such survey or census as may be appropriate for the making of 
the determination provided for in this section. The District Court 
for the District of Columbia shall have jurisdiction to require such 
"Vote" or 
"voting." 
79 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-110-AUGUST 6, 1965 
445 
# 
survey or census to be made by the Director of the Census and it shall 
require him to do so if it deems the Attorney General's refusal to 
request such survey or census to be arbitrary or unreasonable. 
SEC. 14. (a) All cases of criminal contempt arising under the pro- tem'^t'^^roceed.' 
visions of this Act shall be governed by section 151 of the Civil Eights ing^, 
Actof 1957 (42 U.S.C. 1995). 
_ 
.
.
. 
^^ ^*^*-"«• 
(b) No court other than the District Court for the District of 
Columbia or a court of appeals in any proceeding under section 9 
shall have jurisdiction to issue any declaratory judgment pursuant to 
section 4 or section 5 or any restraining order or temporary or perma-
nent injunction against the execution or enforcement of any provision 
of this Act or any action of any Federal officer or employee pursuant 
hereto. 
(c) (1) The terms "vote" or "voting" shall include all action neces-
sary to make a vote effective in any primary, special, or general elec-
tion, including, but not limited to, registration, listing pursuant to 
this Act, or other action required by law prerequisite to voting, casting 
a ballot, and having such ballot counted properly and included in the 
appi'opriate totals of votes cast with respect to candidates for public 
or party office and propositions for which votes are received in an 
election. 
(2) The term "political subdivision" shall mean any county or ^.*T?^"^,*;^^ ^"^" 
parish, except that where registration for voting is not conducted 
under the supervision of a county or parish, the term shall include any 
other subdivision of a State which conducts registration for voting. 
(d) In any action for a declaratory judgment brought pursuant 
subpenas. 
to section 4 or section 5 of this Act, subpenas for witnesses who are 
required to attend the District Court for the District of Columbia may 
be served in any judicial district of the United States: Provided^ That 
no writ of subpena shall issue for witnesses without the District of 
Columbia at a greater distance than one hundred miles from the place 
of holding court without the permission of the District Court for the 
District of Columbia being first had upon proper application and 
cause shown. 
SEC. 15. Section 2004 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1971), 
as amended by section 131 of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (71 Stat. 
637), and amended by section 601 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 
(74 Stat. 90), and as further amended by section 101 of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 241), is further amended as follows: 
(a) Delete the word "Federal" wherever it appears in subsections 
(a) and (c); 
(b) Repeal subsection (f) and designate the present subsections 
Repeal, 
(g) and (h) as (f) and (g), respectively. 
SEC. 16. The Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense, ^^^^^%^^^^^^' 
jointly, shall make a full and complete study to determine whether, Itud"! "^'^ 
under the laws or practices of any State or States, there are pre-
conditions to voting, which might tend to result in discrimination 
against citizens serving in the Armed Forces of the United States 
seeking to vote. Such officials shall, jointly, make a report to the ^^1^°^^ *° ^°"" 
Congress not later than June 30, 1966, containing the results of such 
study, together with a list of any States in which such preconditions 
exist, and shall include in such report such recommendations for 
legislation as they deem advisable to prevent discrimination in 
voting against citizens serving in the Armed Forces of the United 
States. 
gress. 
446 
PUBLIC LAW 89-111-AUGUST 6, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
SEC. 17. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to deny, impair, or 
otherwise adversely affect the right to vote of any person registered to 
vote under the law of any State or political subdivision. 
Appropriation. 
g^c. 18. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums 
as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. 
SEC. 19. If any provision of this Act or the application thereof to 
any person or circumstances is held invalid, the remainder of the Act 
and the application of the provision to other persons not similarly 
situated or to other circumstances shall not be affected thereby. 
Approved August 6, 1965. 
August 6, 1965 
[H. R. 903] 
Public Law 89-111 
AN ACT 
To add certain lands to the Kings Canyon National Park in tlie State of 
California, and for other purposes. 
Kings Canyon 
National Park, 
Calif. 
Addition of 
lands. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That all lands in 
Tehipite Valley within the Sierra National Forest lying north of a 
line described as follows: 
Beginning at a point on the existing west boundary of the 
Kings Canyon National Park on the hydrographic divide on the 
southwest side of the Gorge of Despair in section 13, township 
12 south, range 29 east, Mount Diablo base and meridian, being 
the crest of a ridge designated as Silver Spur; 
thence following the crest of Silver Spur westerly to the inter-
section with the west line of section 14, township 12 south, range 
29 east; thence northwesterly in a straight line across the middle 
fork of the Kings River to the point of intersection of the right 
bank of a stream or intermittent, stream and the 4,400-foot contour 
north of Tombstone Ridge, in section 15, township 12 south, 
range 29 east, being a point on the existing west boundary of the 
park; 
and all lands in the Cedar Grove area of the Sequoia National Forest 
lying east of the west section lines of sections 11 and 14, township 13 
south, range 30 east, Mount Diablo base and meridian, are hereby 
excluded from the said national forests and made a part of the Kings 
Canyon National Park, subject to all the laws and regulations appli-
cable to such park. 
Approved August 6, 1965. 
August 6, 1965 
[H. R. 8620] 
Public Law 89-112 
AN ACT 
To amend the Agricultural Act of 1949 and the Agricultural Adjustment Act 
of 1938, to take into consideration floods and other natural disasters in 
reference to the feed grains, cotton, and wheat programs for 1965. 
Feed grains, 
cotton, wheat 
programs, 1965. 
Floods, other 
natural disasters. 
77 Stat. 44. 
7 u s e 1441 
note. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemhled^ That section 105(d) 
of the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended, is amended by adding 
at the end thereof the following: 
"An acreage on the farm which the Secretary finds was not planted 
to feed grains in 1965 because of flood, drought, or other natural 
disaster shall be deemed by the Secretary to be an actual acreage of 
feed grains planted on the farm for harvest for purposes of this sub-