(a) Submissions may be made in letter or any other written form.

(b) The Attorney General will accept certain machine readable data in the following electronic media: 3.5 inch 1.4 megabyte disk, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) formatted to the ISO-9660/Joliet standard, or digital versatile disc read-only memory (DVD-ROM). Unless requested by the Attorney General, data provided on electronic media need not be provided in hard copy.

(c) All electronic media shall be clearly labeled with the following information:

(1) Submitting authority.

(2) Name, address, title, and telephone number of contact person.

(3) Date of submission cover letter.

(4) Statement identifying the voting change(s) involved in the submission.

(d) Each magnetic medium (floppy disk or tape) provided must be accompanied by a printed description of its contents, including an identification by name or location of each data file contained on the medium, a detailed record layout for each such file, a record count for each such file, and a full description of the magnetic medium format.

(e) Text documents should be provided in a standard American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character code; documents with graphics and complex formatting should be provided in standard Portable Document Format (PDF). The label shall be affixed to each electronic medium, and the information included on the label shall also be contained in a documentation file on the electronic medium.

(f) All data files shall be provided in a delimited text file and must include a header row as the first row with a name for each field in the data set. A separate data dictionary file documenting the fields in the data set, the field separators or delimiters, and a description of each field, including whether the field is text, date, or numeric, enumerating all possible values is required; separators and delimiters should not also be used as data in the data set. Proprietary or commercial software system data files (e.g., SAS, SPSS, dBase, Lotus 1-2-3) and data files containing compressed data or binary data fields will not be accepted.

Changes affecting voting should be submitted as soon as possible after they become final, except as provided in § 51.22.

(a) The Attorney General will not consider on the merits:

(1) Any proposal for a change submitted prior to final enactment or administrative decision except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section.

(2) Any submitted change directly related to another change that has not received section 5 preclearance if the Attorney General determines that the two changes cannot be substantively considered independently of one another.

(3) Any submitted change whose enforcement has ceased and been superseded by a standard, practice, or procedure that has received section 5 preclearance or that is otherwise legally enforceable under section 5.

(b) For any change requiring approval by referendum, by a State or Federal court, or by a Federal agency, the Attorney General may make a determination concerning the change prior to such approval if the change is not subject to alteration in the final approving action and if all other action necessary for approval has been taken. (See also § 51.18.)

(a) Changes affecting voting shall be submitted by the chief legal officer or other appropriate official of the submitting authority or by any other authorized person on behalf of the submitting authority. A State, whether partially or fully covered, has authority to submit any voting change on behalf of its covered jurisdictions and political subunits. Where a State is covered as a whole, State legislation or other changes undertaken or required by the State shall be submitted by the State (except that legislation of local applicability may be submitted by political subunits). Where a State is partially covered, changes of statewide application may be submitted by the State. Submissions from the State, rather than from the individual covered jurisdictions, would serve the State's interest in at least two important respects: first, the State is better able to explain to the Attorney General the purpose and effect of voting changes it enacts than are the individual covered jurisdictions; second, a single submission of the voting change on behalf of all of the covered jurisdictions would reduce the possibility that some State acts will be legally enforceable in some parts of the State but not in others.

(b) A change effected by a political party (see § 51.7) may be submitted by an appropriate official of the political party.

(c) A change affecting voting that results from a State court order should be submitted by the jurisdiction or entity that is to implement or administer the change (in the manner specified by paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section).

(a) Delivery by U.S. Postal Service. Submissions sent to the Attorney General by the U.S. Postal Service, including certified mail or express mail, shall be addressed to the Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice, Room 7254-NWB, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20530.

(b) Delivery by other carriers. Submissions sent to the Attorney General by carriers other than the U.S. Postal Service, including by hand delivery, should be addressed or may be delivered to the Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice, Room 7254-NWB, 1800 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006.

(c) Electronic submissions. Submissions may be delivered to the Attorney General through an electronic form available on the website of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division at www.justice.gov/crt/voting/. Detailed instructions appear on the website. Jurisdictions should answer the questions appearing on the electronic form, and should attach documents as specified in the instructions accompanying the application.

(d) Telefacsimile submissions. In urgent circumstances, submissions may be delivered to the Attorney General by telefacsimile to (202) 616-9514. Submissions should not be sent to any other telefacsimile number at the Department of Justice. Submissions that are voluminous should not be sent by telefacsimile.

(e) Email. Submissions may not be delivered to the Attorney General by email in the first instance. However, after a submission is received by the Attorney General, a jurisdiction may supply additional information on that submission by email to [email protected]. The subject line of the email shall be identified with the Attorney General's file number for the submission (YYYY-NNNN), marked as “Additional Information,” and include the name of the jurisdiction.

(f) Special marking. The first page of the submission, and the envelope (if any), shall be clearly marked: “Submission under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.”

(g) The most current information on addresses for, and methods of making, section 5 submissions is available on the Voting Section website at www.justice.gov/crt/voting/.

(a) A jurisdiction may withdraw a submission at any time prior to a final decision by the Attorney General. Notice of the withdrawal of a submission must be made in writing addressed to the Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, to be delivered at the addresses, telefacsimile number, or email address specified in § 51.24. The submission shall be deemed withdrawn upon the Attorney General's receipt of the notice.

(b) Notice of withdrawals will be given to interested parties registered under § 51.32.