The Voting Rights Act declared that “no voting qualification…shall be imposed…to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” Some of the impediments identified by the act include various tests and devices. For example, literacy and language tests were specifically forbidden. “No citizen shall be denied the right to vote…because of his failure to…demonstrate the ability to read, write, understand, or interpret any matter (or) demonstrate any educational achievement or his knowledge of any particular subject…or interpret any matter in the English language.” The portion of the act stating that “no person…shall intimidate, threaten, or coerce…any person for voting” also extended protections to folks helping or urging people to vote. Voting is defined by the new law as not only the act of casting a ballot, but all of the associated steps as well (including registering to vote and having one’s ballot counted).