Elections; preclearance of certain covered practices required, definitions.

Elections; preclearance of certain covered practicesrequired. Requires the governing body of any county, city, or town tosubmit, prior to enacting or seeking to administer any voting qualification orprerequisite to voting, or any standard, practice, or procedure with respect tovoting, that is a covered practice, such qualification, prerequisite, standard,practice, or procedure by either (i) instituting an action in the Court of Appealsfor a declaratory judgment that such qualification, prerequisite, standard,practice, or procedure neither has the purpose nor will have the effect ofdenying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color ormembership in a language minority group or (ii) submitting such qualification,prerequisite, standard, practice, or procedure to the Office of the AttorneyGeneral. No qualification, prerequisite, standard, practice, or procedure thatis a covered practice shall be given effect until (a) the circuit court hasentered such judgment, (b) the Attorney General has not interposed an objectionwithin 60 days of the governing body's submission, or (c) upon good cause shownand to facilitate an expedited approval within 60 days of the governing body'ssubmission, the Attorney General has affirmatively indicated that no suchobjection will be made. The bill is modeled after the Section 5 preclearancerequirement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended. The bill defines"covered practice" as any change to the method of election in alocality, any change to jurisdiction boundaries, any change to electiondistricts or wards, or any change that reduces, consolidates, or relocatesvoting locations.