A federal law requires translated voting ballots, but not in Arabic or Haitian Creole

Volunteers take part in a 2004 voter outreach event in Dearborn, Mich., organized by the Arab American Institute. While there is no federal requirement for Arabic-language ballots, the city of Dearborn recently started requiring election materials to be translated into Arabic. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Among the language minority groups protected under the Voting Rights Act, you won't find voters like Shaima Mohammed.

In 1975, Congress expanded that landmark civil rights law to try to get rid of barriers preventing "citizens of language minorities" from voting. And for close to half a century, Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act has required certain states and local governments to provide voting ballots, registration forms and other election materials in more than just English.