Section 5, included in the original Voting Rights Act of 1965, requires regions with racially discriminatory histories to gain preclearance from the Justice Department before they could change election procedures. This originally included states in which less than 50% of the voting population was registered to vote in in 1960 and/or 1964, although some counties and towns have since been added. Since the provision was extended in 1982, the federal government has objected to and stopped hundreds of proposed changes on the premise of a discriminatory impact or intent. If a region shows nondiscriminatory behavior for 10 years and has taken affirmative action measures, they are then exempt from the preclearance procedures; some counties and towns in Virginia have met this requirement.

Nine Southern states still fall under this law: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia (minus some counties and cities). Various cities and counties in California, Florida, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, Michigan, and New Hampshire also fall into this category.

This section became a point of contention for a group of Southern Republicans, led by Georgia congressmen Lynn Westmoreland and Charlie Norwood, who said this provision unfairly discriminated against certain regions that ceased to be racist decades ago. Westorland presented an amendment to speed up the "bail out" process, which Norwood sought to change the ways in which regions were chosen to fall under this provision. Both amendments failed, but their opposition was well discussed in the public arena.