
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC1973j]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                     CHAPTER 20--ELECTIVE FRANCHISE
 
              SUBCHAPTER I-A--ENFORCEMENT OF VOTING RIGHTS
 
Sec. 1973j. Civil and criminal sanctions


(a) Depriving or attempting to deprive persons of secured rights

    Whoever shall deprive or attempt to deprive any person of any right 
secured by section 1973, 1973a, 1973b, 1973c, 1973e, or 1973h of this 
title or shall violate section 1973i(a) of this title, shall be fined 
not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(b) Destroying, defacing, mutilating, or altering ballots or official 
        voting records

    Whoever, within a year following an election in a political 
subdivision 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 otherwise, 
shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five 
years, or both.

(c) Conspiring to violate or interfere with secured rights

    Whoever conspires to violate the provisions of subsection (a) or (b) 
of this section, or interferes with any right secured by section 1973, 
1973a, 1973b, 1973c, 1973e, 1973h, or 1973i(a) of this title shall be 
fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or 
both.

(d) Civil action by Attorney General for preventive relief; injunctive 
        and other relief

    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 1973, 1973a, 1973b, 1973c, 1973e, 1973h, 1973i, 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 subchapters I-A to I-C of this 
chapter to vote and (2) to count such votes.

(e) Proceeding by Attorney General to enforce the counting of ballots of 
        registered and eligible persons who are prevented from voting

    Whenever in any political subdivision in which there are examiners 
appointed pursuant to subchapters I-A to I-C of this chapter any persons 
alleged to such an examiner within forty-eight hours after the closing 
of the polls that notwithstanding (1) their listing under subchapters I-
A to I-C of this chapter 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 counting 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 preclude any remedy 
available under State or Federal law.

(f) Jurisdiction of district courts; exhaustion of administrative or 
        other remedies unnecessary

    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 subchapters I-A to I-C of this chapter shall have 
exhausted any administrative or other remedies that may be provided by 
law.

(Pub. L. 89-110, title I, Sec. 12, Aug. 6, 1965, 79 Stat. 443; Pub. L. 
90-284, title I, Sec. 103(c), Apr. 11, 1968, 82 Stat. 75; renumbered 
title I, Pub. L. 91-285, Sec. 2, June 22, 1970, 84 Stat. 314.)


                               Amendments

    1968--Subsecs. (a), (c). Pub. L. 90-284 struck out reference to 
violation of section 1973i(b) of this title.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 1973e, 1973i of this title.
