Congress created preclearance in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Covered jurisdictions, including all of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia, had to submit changes to the Justice Department or a federal court in Washington, D.C. That included moving a polling place, redrawing a district or changing an ID rule. Texas and Arizona were added as whole states in 1975, and parts of other states were covered too.
Preclearance was designed to stop discrimination before it took effect. Lawsuits can take years, and an unfair rule can shape several elections before a court acts. Federal officials blocked hundreds of proposed changes under Section 5, and many others were dropped or revised once jurisdictions knew they faced review.
In Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Supreme Court struck down the formula that decided who was covered. Section 5 remains law but applies to no one. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would create a new formula, passed the House in 2021 but stalled in the Senate.