Updated August 21, 2024 at 00:58 AM ET

The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention.

Delegates to the Democratic National Convention held a ceremonial — and celebratory — roll call vote to mark what they’d already made official earlier this month with a virtual vote: Vice President Kamala Harris’ selection as the party’s presidential nominee.

The unconventional roll call was facilitated by a DJ, with a unique songs playing as the call moved from state to state. “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd for Alabama, for example.

Here’s what song each state chose.

Florida’s song was “Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty (possibly a snarky reference to the Never Back Down, Inc., super PAC, set up to encourage Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ unsuccessful presidential candidacy?).

MORE: Turn down for … what?! Lil Jon helps Georgia delegation announce votes for Harris

Loud cheers went up from the convention crowd as the voting moved from state to state. Participants announced their support for Harris and Walz, and touted their individual states’ accomplishments, including the Hawaii delegation, which noted its status as the birthplace of former President Obama, and Illinois, where Obama won the first victory of his presidential campaign in the 2008 caucuses.

Several high-profile Democrats who’d been discussed as potential running mates for Harris participated in the roll call, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Participants also called attention to key issues of importance to Democratic voters, including reproductive rights and gun violence. Representing Nevada was a survivor of the October 1, 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting.

Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood and daughter of the late former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, introduced Kate Cox, a Texas woman who became a Democratic activist after being turned away for an abortion under Texas law.

The count wrapped up with a nod to the candidates’ home states — California for Harris and Minnesota for her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz.

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A South Carolina sheriff who ordered a deputy to repeatedly shock a noncompliant inmate with a Taser was found not guilty of federal civil rights violations.

“Thank the good Lord, thank the good Lord, I’m probably going to go to sleep thanking the good Lord,” former Malboro County Sheriff Charles Lemon said outside the courthouse.

He was arrested and suspended in 2021 for an incident from the previous year, where he was filmed on body camera video ordering a deputy to shock inmate Harrel Johnson six times, shouting, “Pop it to him.”

Lemon, whose term was slated to end this year, isn’t running for re-election.

The FBI and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigated the incident, and the state of South Carolina originally filed charges against Lemon and his deputy but dropped them in March 2024.

Lemon was eventually charged in federal court with deprivation of civil rights.

At trial, prosecutors argued Lemon was never Taser certified and shouldn’t have ordered a deputy to use the weapon, while a member of the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy testified that officers are only allowed to use a Taser on someone three times.

During the week-long trial, Lemon argued he intervened in the Johnson matter because he knew the man’s family and thought he could be useful in getting Johnson, who had a history of mental health problems, to enter his cell.

A criminal justice expert for the defense argued the six shocks weren’t excessive given that Johnson lunged at the sheriffs when his handcuffs were taken off.

“The bottom line is Charles did not want to plead guilty because he didn’t think he was guilty. He spent his entire life trying to be a good law enforcement officer, and this was a dangerous situation in which he felt — and the jury vindicated his feelings — that his actions were justified,” defense attorney Morgan Martin told local paper The State on Monday.

“We are disappointed with the outcome, but we respect the jury’s verdict,” the office of U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Adair Boroughs said in a statement to the paper.

Lemon’s deputy, Andrew Cook, pleaded guilty to a federal charge earlier this year.

The state attorney general’s office told Queen City News it is considering whether to pursue renewed charges.

What the South Carolina Gamecocks naming LaNorris Sellers as the starting quarterback means for the program.

On Tuesday, head coach Shane Beamer announced that LaNorris Sellers had been named the starting quarterback for the South Carolina Gamecocks ahead of the 2024 college football season. Sellers had been battling with former Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford for the starting job, and Sellers has officially come out on top. So what does this mean for the program?

For starters, it means South Carolina has found their guy for the foreseeable future. Sellers is just a redshirt freshman so he has plenty of eligibility remaining before he is able to attack the next stage of his football career. Starting young players at quarterback in the SEC can be daunting, but Sellers being the guy provides stability and clarity around the program’s future.

It also means South Carolina will be able to get very creative on offense. Sellers not only can get the job done with his arm but is athletic enough to extend plays with his feet and add to the run game. South Carolina has struggled a little bit on the offensive side of the football, but Sellers being under center really opens things up for how he can be used in an offense and the different types of looks Dowell Loggains can give defenses this season.

The Gamecocks open with Old Dominion to start this season, so Sellers will get an opportunity to get his feet wet before they travel to Kentucky for their first conference game of the season. It won’t be an easy schedule for a first-year starter to maneuver through this season, but that just comes with the territory of playing the SEC.

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