Justice's Processing of Mississippi's Proposed Voting Changes

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the manner in which the Department of Justice processes submissions from the State of Mississippi and its local jurisdictions under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The report addressed: (1) the time taken to process Mississippi's submissions compared to the time taken for other covered jurisdictions; and (2) whether Justice uses form letters asking identical questions when requesting additional information from Mississippi.

GAO found that the amount of time used by Justice to make final decisions or to request additional information on proposed voting changes was similar for both Mississippi and all other covered jurisdictions. Justice's decisions to request additional information from Mississippi were based on an individual case-by-case review and its letters to Mississippi, although similar in format, requested information that differed according to the circumstances of each submission.