SECTION 1. That the right to vote, to be voted for, and to
hold office shall not be denied or abridged anywhere in the
United States, under any pretence of race or color; and
all provisions in any State Constitutions, or in any laws,
State, Territorial, or Municipal, inconsistent herewith,
are hereby declared null and void.
SEC. 2. That any person, who, under any pretence of race or
color, wilfully hinders or attempts to hinder any citizen
of the United States from being registered, or from voting,
or from being voted for, or from holding office, or who
attempts by menaces to deter any such citizen from the
exercise or enjoyment of the rights of citizenship above
mentioned, shall be punished by a fine not less than one
hundred dollars nor more than three thousand dollars, or by
imprisonment in the common jail for not less than thirty
days nor more than one year.
SEC. 3. That every person legally engaged in preparing
a register of voters, or in holding or conducting an
election, who wilfully refuses to register the name or to
receive, count, return, or otherwise give the proper legal
effect to the vote of any citizen, under any pretence of
race or color, shall be punished by a fine not less than
five hundred dollars nor more than four thousand dollars,
or by imprisonment in the common jail for not less than
three calendar months nor more than two years.
SEC. 4. That the District Courts of the United States
shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all offences against
this Act; and the district attorneys, marshals, and deputy
marshals, the commissioners appointed by the Circuit and
Territorial Courts of the United States, with powers of
arresting, imprisoning, or bailing offenders, and every
other officer specially empowered by the President of the
United States, shall be, and they are hereby, required, at
the expense of the United States, to institute proceedings
against any person who violates this Act, and cause him to
be arrested and imprisoned or bailed, as the case may be,
for trial before such court as by this Act has cognizance
of the offence.
SEC. 5. That every citizen unlawfully deprived of any of
the rights of citizenship secured by this Act, under any
pretence of race or color, may maintain a suit against
any person so depriving him, and recover damages in the
District Court of the United States for the district in
which such person may be found.