Florida governor extends voter registration deadline after online system crash
06 October 2020
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced Tuesday the state will extend the voter registration to 7 p.m. tonight after its online system crashed on Monday from an uptick in volume.
The big picture: The state is investigating the crash, which may have prevented thousands from registering before the original deadline, AP reports. Investigators are now working to determine if the crash was a "deliberate act."
- Floridians can still register to vote online, at the elections office, a highway safety and motor vehicles’ driver’s license offices or any tax collector's branch office.
Why it matters: Florida is a key battleground state in November's election. Republicans have significantly cut into the Democrats' lead in Florida voter registration in recent months, per AP, putting pressure on an already close race.
What they're saying:
- "During the last few hours, the RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov website was accessed by an unprecedented 1.1 million requests per hour. We will work with our state and federal law-enforcement partners to ensure this was not a deliberate act against the voting process," Secretary of State Laurel Lee said in a statement Tuesday.
Update: This story has been updated with Gov. DeSantis announcing that voter registration would be extended.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.