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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 18 september 2024
Puerto Rico officials reject request to extend voter registration deadline

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) natorial candidate.
— Officials in Puerto Rico Dalmau and Ortiz have said
have rejected a petition to they support ousting Luma,
extend a voter registration while González said she
deadline following an out- would instead appoint an
cry over long lines formed by energy ‘czar’ to oversee the
those seeking to participate company.
in this year’s general elec- Álvarez, who supports
tion. González, said she was sur-
The island’s two main par- prised at the line Tuesday at
ties, the Popular Democratic the elections commission:
Party and the New Progres- “There are too many people.
sive Party, voted against the There are no resources.” As
request late Monday, as did people waited, volunteers
the alternate president of the outside distributed snack
elections commission. boxes containing a ham-
Those living in Puerto Rico and-cheese burrito and
have until Sept. 21 to regis- chips.
ter. Members of two other Rullán said one reason for the
parties, the Puerto Rican long lines is the elimination of
Independence Party and 76 of 88 permanent registra-
Citizen Victory Movement, tion boards across the island,
which was created in recent as well as fewer employees
years, had requested that at the elections commission.
the deadline be pushed to People wait at the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Sept. In addition, the commission
17, 2024. The voter registration deadline ends Sept. 21.
a month before the Nov. 5 Associated Press faces a backlog of tens of
election amid concerns that thousands of electronically
people will be locked out of does.Hundreds of people prepared with a chair and to vote for Juan Dalmau, registered voters that have
voting. “Not everyone can have stood in daylong lines a cap for the sun. The es- who is running for governor not been recorded yet as
come and stand in a kilo- to register for the election timated wait at the State for the Puerto Rican Inde- they await approval.
meters-long line,” said John in recent weeks as the U.S. Elections Commission was pendence Party. On Monday, the American
F. Rullán Schmidt, executive Caribbean territory’s two more than two hours when He faces Jesús Manuel Ortiz Civil Liberties Union noted
director of a volunteer group main parties, which have she arrived, but there was of the Popular Democratic that chronic power out-
called Somos Más, which long dominated the political still enough seating indoors. Party, Javier Jiménez of the ages also have forced the
seeks to promote citizen scene, face stiff challenges Like many Puerto Ricans, she conservative Dignity Project temporary closure of regis-
participation in politics. from other parties. called for the ouster of Luma, party and Jenniffer Colón tration centers as it accused
He noted how earlier this “It’s very important to vote,” a private company that has of the pro-statehood New the elections commission of
week, some Puerto Ricans said Vanessa Casillas, a come under fire for chronic Progressive Party, who beat not providing enough re-
stayed in line until 3 a.m. to 56-year-old speech thera- power outages across the current Gov. Pedro Pierluisi in sources to handle the surge
ensure they could vote. He pist. “Those in the govern- U.S. territory, some of which their party’s primary in June. of people seeking to vote.
warned the group would sue ment are not working for the are blamed on another com- Meanwhile, the Citizen Vic- The ACLU also had called for
to extend the voter registra- people.” pany that oversees electric tory Movement has said it the registration deadline to
tion deadline if no one else On Tuesday, she came generation. Casillas planned supports Dalmau as guber- be extended. q

Google says it will rethink its plans for a big data center in Chile

over water worries

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — data center in Chile to ad- the impact of power-thirsty “A new process will start fer.The court said it was
Google on Tuesday said dress environmental con- projects around the world. from scratch,” Google said highly possible that cool-
it would halt plans to de- cerns, a decision reflect- The U.S. technology com- in its statement. “Sustain- ing the heavy equipment
velop a major $200 million ing growing worries about pany first obtained permits ability is at the heart of ev- which creates the online
in 2020 to construct the vast erything we do, and the storage for the data of
project in Chile’s capital, way we design and man- millions could pull from
Santiago, as demand for age our data centers is no Chile’s water resources.
the server farms skyrocket- exception.” The country is experienc-
ed across the globe, fueled Community complaints in ing a crippling drought
by a surge in cloud-based the drought-stricken South supercharged by climate
technologies and a craze American nation over the change, a source of out-
for generative AI. air-conditioned computer rage among locals and In-
But months after a Chilean farm’s energy and water digenous groups. Google
court partially reversed the usage sharpened govern- didn’t provide an updated
center’s authorization over ment scrutiny and prompt- timeline for the project and
water usage concerns, ed a local court to tempo- said that it would keep the
Google announced Tues- rarily revoke the project’s location the same. It said
day that it would revise authorization in February. developers had already no-
the project to comply with The Santiago environmen- tified Chile’s environmental
more stringent environ- tal court asked Google to regulator of the company’s
Clouds hover over the Andes Mountains in Santiago, Chile, June mental requirements and respond to concerns that decision to pause its permit
19, 2024. change its water-intensive the data center could af- application process and
Associated Press cooling system. fect Santiago’s main aqui- rethink its strategy.q