This section of the act was tacked onto the law in its renewal in 1975, hoping to prohibit discrimination against language-minority voters by granting election language assistance in areas that have a high number of residents with limited proficiency in English. Language-minority groups are “persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives or of Spanish heritage." At the time of the 2006 renewal, this section applied to 466 jurisdictions in 31 states.

Congressman Steve King of Iowa presented an amendment to the bill that would delete this section and take away the requirement that translators and miltilinguals ballots be provided for language-minority voters. It failed. However, it continued to be a point of contention and opposal for many conservatives, tied up in the then-current heated debates on immigration. Conservatives affirmed America as an English speaking country, believing preservation of minority languages would lead to a divided America.