WALLER COUNTY -- The U.S. Justice Department said Friday it has entered into a consent decree with Waller County to resolve a lawsuit regarding county voter registration practices that the government claims violate federal voting rights laws.

The agreement, which eliminates invalid registration practices primarily affecting students at predominantly black Prairie View A&M University, must still be approved by a federal court in Houston, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Among the terms of the decree is that Waller County must initiate voter registration programs on the Prairie View campus.

“By promptly agreeing to settle this matter, the county has demonstrated a commitment to addressing past problems and to complying with federal law in the future,” said Grace Chung Becker, acting assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

Waller County Judge Owen Ralston told The Associated Press on Friday he was unfamiliar with all the decree’s details but believes it contains positive provisions, including the voter registration efforts on the Prairie View campus.

The federal agency’s complaint, filed in conjunction with the decree, alleges that the county implemented several changes in registration practices without first receiving approval under the Voting Rights Act. The changes relate to the county’s administration of its volunteer deputy registration program, standards for accepting voter registration applications and notice requirements.

The suit also alleges that the county violated a provision of the Civil Rights Act by rejecting certain registration applications on immaterial grounds.

The county agreed under terms of the decree to abandon implementation of the unapproved registration practices, reprocess applications that were wrongly rejected and initiate the voter registration programs.

Waller County has a history of voting problems. After the 2006 elections, the state attorney general’s office seized county election records after complaints that black voters’ rights were violated. About 300 students at Prairie View said they had to wait three to four hours to vote and ended up casting provisional ballots because their names were missing from election rosters.

About 1,000 students from Prairie View marched seven miles from campus to the county courthouse during the spring to call attention to voting problems in the county.