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Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan invest $300 million in election infrastructure

01 September 2020
Dan Ackermann

Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg are putting up $300 million to promote "safe and reliable voting in states and localities" amid the pandemic, the Center for Tech and Civic Life and Center for Election Innovation & Research will announce Tuesday.

What they're saying: "The more I've focused on this election, the more important I've felt it is both to make sure local counties and states have the resources they need to handle these unprecedented conditions, and that people are aware that the infrastructure is in place to make every vote count so they can accept the result of the election as legitimate," Zuckerberg told Axios.

  • In the joint release, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) said: "This grant will be of tremendous assistance as we work to get the word out to voters."
  • Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) said Americans need voting information "from trusted sources, and these dollars are going to go a long way to making that happen."

The Facebook CEO and his wife committed $250 million to CTCL, which will use the money to help local jurisdictions with staffing, training and equipment.

  • Chan and Zuckerberg committed $50 million to CEIR to assist state and local election officials in making sure elections are secure, and voters have confidence in the outcomes.

Read the release.

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.