18 U.S.C. § 594
Section 594 · Intimidation of voters
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 17 court decisions — leading case United States Civil Service Commission v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers (1973)
Most recently applied in Public Interest Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Bellows (February 2024)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner, at any election held solely or in part for the purpose of electing such candidate, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§61, 61g (Aug. 2, 1939, 11:50 a.m. E.S.T., ch. 410, §§1, 8, 53 Stat. 1147, 1148).
This section consolidates sections 61 and 61g of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., with changes in phraseology only.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”.
1970—Pub. L. 91–405 substituted “Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner” for “Delegates or Commissioners from the Territories and possessions”.
Effective Date of 1970 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 91–405 effective Sept. 22, 1970, see section 206(b) of Pub. L. 91–405, set out as an Effective Date note under section 25a of Title 2, The Congress.
Canal Zone
Applicability of section to Canal Zone, see section 14 of this title.
Cross References
Minor offenses tried by United States magistrate judges as excluding offenses punishable under this section, see section 3401 of this title.