                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

MINORITY LANGUAGE ACCESSIBILITY (§ 24.2-128)

A. The State Board shall designate a county, city, or town as a covered locality
if it determines, in consultation with the Director of the Census, on the basis
of the 2010 American Community Survey census data and subsequent American
Community Survey data in five-year increments, or comparable census data, that
(i) more than five percent of the citizens of voting age of such county, city,
or town are members of a single language minority and are unable to speak or
understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process;
(ii) more than 10,000 of the citizens of voting age of such county, city, or
town are members of a single language minority and are unable to speak or
understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process; or
(iii) in the case of a county, city, or town containing all or any part of an
Indian reservation, more than five percent of the American Indian citizens of
voting age within the Indian reservation are members of a single language
minority and are unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to
participate in the electoral process.

B. Whenever a covered locality provides any voting or election materials, it
shall provide such materials in the language of the applicable minority group as
well as in the English language. For purposes of this requirement, &#8220;voting
or election materials&#8221; means registration or voting notices, forms,
instructions, assistance, voter information pamphlets, ballots, sample ballots,
candidate qualification information, and notices regarding changes to local
election districts, precincts, or polling places. For purposes of this
requirement, &#8220;registration notices&#8221; means any notice of voter
registration approval, denial, or cancellation required by the provisions of
Chapter 4 (&#xA7; 24.2-400 et seq.). A covered locality may distribute such
materials in the preferred language identified by the voter.

C. The Attorney General, or any qualified voter who is a member of a language
minority group for whom a covered locality is required to provide voting or
election materials in such language, may institute a cause of action in the
circuit court of the covered locality to compel the provision of the voting or
election materials in the language of the applicable minority group. In such
action, the court may, in its discretion, allow a private plaintiff a reasonable
attorney fee as part of the costs, if such plaintiff is the prevailing party.

HISTORY: 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 528, 533.