INSTITUTE INDEX: The push to block voter registration

Under a new elections law passed by Florida late last year, number of hours groups registering voters have to turn in completed forms or risk fines: 48

Penalty for each voter registration application delivered after the 48-hour period: $50

Penalty for each voter registration application delivered after the 48-hour period if the delay was found to be "willful": $250

Deadline in days for handing in registration forms under the old law: 10

Since the law took effect, number fewer Floridians who have registered to vote than during the same period before the 2008 election: 81,417

Percent by which new registrations dropped in Florida's Orange County since the law took effect: over 20

Percent by which new registrations dropped in Miami-Dade County: 39

Number of Florida voters registered by the Okaloosa County Branch of the NAACP on the Sunday of this year's Martin Luther King Jr. three-day holiday weekend: 2

When the local elections office reopened on Tuesday, number of minutes after the 48-hour deadline the NAACP handed in the forms, resulting in a warning letter threatening prosecution: 98

Date on which the League of Women Voters of Florida, Rock the Vote and the Florida Public Interest Research Group Education Fund filed a federal lawsuit challenging the voter-registration restrictions under the First Amendment: 12/15/2011

Date on which the plaintiffs presented their argument for a preliminary injunction: 3/1/2012

Date on which the U.S. Justice Department formally objected to the Florida law, saying the state was unable to prove the new provisions were not discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act: 3/2/2012

Number of states that have introduced similar bills to restrict voter registration efforts: at least 16

According to the official count, number of votes by which George W. Bush defeated Al Gore in Florida in 2000, giving him the presidency: 327

Percent by which Obama won Florida in 2008: 2.5

(Click on figure to go to source.)