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

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.

But not all languages are covered by Section 203's protections.