INSTITUTE INDEX: Running the numbers on NC's discriminatory voting law

Date North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed into law HB 589, the Voter Information Verification Act or VIVA, which makes sweeping changes to the state's election laws: 8/12/2013

Number of states with voting laws that are more restrictive than North Carolina's: 0

Date two separate federal lawsuits were filed against VIVA claiming it violates the Voting Rights Act and the 14th and 15th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution: 8/12/2013

Date a lawsuit was filed against VIVA in state court, claiming it also violates the N.C. Constitution: 8/13/2013

Under VIVA, year that North Carolina voters will have to begin showing state-issued photo identification at the polls: 2016

Number of registered North Carolina voters who appear to have no state-issued photo ID, according to a N.C. Board of Elections analysis: 318,643

Percent of those voters without a state-issued ID who are African-American: 34

Percent of North Carolina's registered voters overall who are African-American: 21.8

Date North Carolina plans to begin issuing free IDs for those without any: 1/1/2014

Under Pennsylvania's similar photo ID requirement, which is currently being challenged in court, number of people who lack the necessary ID: 900,000 to 1.2 million

Number of free photo ID cards Pennsylvania has issued since March 2012: 16,811

Number of days by which VIVA cuts North Carolina's 17-day early voting period starting next year: 7

Percent of whites who voted early in North Carolina's 2012 general election: 52

Percent of African Americans who voted early: 70

Number of North Carolinians who registered to vote in the 2012 general election using same-day registration, which VIVA repeals: 97,357

Percent of all those new same-day registrants who were African-American: at least 34

Number of North Carolina's 100 counties that had been covered under the Section Five federal preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act, which was effectively overturned by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision: 40

Number of days after that decision that an N.C. Senate leader, citing the high court's ruling, said the state elections changes bill would begin moving forward: 28

Over the past 30 years in North Carolina, number of times the U.S. Justice Department objected to elections changes under Section Five: 40

Number of times it did so under Section Two, which bars discriminatory elections procedures and remains in place: 30

Percent of white voters who oppose VIVA: 44

Percent of black voters who oppose the law: 72

Percent of political moderates who say they oppose it: 70

Number of people who signed a petition launched by N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper asking McCrory to stop the assault on voting rights: over 17,000

Date on which U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) called on Attorney General Eric Holder to take action against the law: 8/13/2013

(Click on figure to go to source.)