"It was election of high quality. It offered the voters genuine choice between candidates, and it showed significant progress over previous elections."

VOA: standard.2010.02.01

However, election-year politics stymied progress on such a deal, leading to the situation Friday in which both sides acknowledged being unable to prevent something neither wanted.

CNN: Obama signs order activating deep spending cuts

Mr Farage rejected suggestions that David Cameron's subsequent pledge of a referendum on EU membership after the next election had blunted UKIP's progress and insisted his party appealed not just to disgruntled Conservatives but supporters of all the three largest parties.

BBC: Nigel Farage with UKIP's candidate Diane James

But while past high-court rulings rejected challenges to the preclearance requirement, in a 2009 decision the justices signaled that the formula for selecting jurisdictions covered by Section 5, last updated with the 1972 election results, may not reflect progress in race relations.

WSJ: Voting Act Under Scrutiny