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Georgia secretary of state announces "full, by-hand" recount of presidential election

11 November 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced on Wednesday a "full, by-hand recount" of ballots " cast in the presidential election in every county in the state.

Why it matters: President Trump has pushed for a recount in Georgia, a historically red state and one of the most closely watched in the presidential election. No winner has been declared in either of the state's two Senate battles, which means we likely won’t know which party will hold the Senate majority until 2021.

  • "With the margin being so close," each country will undergo a recount in time for the state certification, according to Raffensperger. His office intends to investigate reports of possible fraud, he noted.
  • "This will help build confidence," he said. "It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvas all at once."
  • Raffensperger, a Republican, emphasized that his office will "verify every vote is counted," adding, “It’ll take every bit of the time we have left, for sure."

Context: Raffensperger came under fire after Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler (R) called for him to resign over what they called his failure to deliver "honest and transparent elections."

  • Raffensperger (R) confirmed on Friday that the race's tight margins would necessitate a recount, saying the race's outcome "has huge implications for the entire country." 37 of 159 counties had "submitted certified, final results" as of Saturday, per AP.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly 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.