5:49 PM ET
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James' voting-rights group has partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers to make Dodger Stadium a polling place for the November general election, marking the first time a Major League Baseball team has offered its facility as a voting center, sources told ESPN.
The initiative, which is expected to be announced Thursday afternoon, came together after More Than a Vote, the group James created in late June to combat voter suppression, teamed with the Dodgers, who have used the stadium as a site for coronavirus testing and food distribution in recent months.
For the five days leading up to the Nov. 3 election, all registered voters in Los Angeles County will be able to park for free and vote at the stadium. The county allows voters to attend any of the nearly 1,000 vote centers in the metropolitan area.
While it is unclear whether the ballots will be cast indoors or outside the stadium, the groups plan to abide by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regulations regarding social distancing.
James' efforts to use expansive sports sites as polling places already had taken root in the NBA. After the Atlanta Hawks in late June offered to use State Farm Arena as a polling place for upcoming elections, the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons said they would do the same with their arenas. More Than a Vote hopes more baseball teams will commit their stadiums to serve as polling places in November and beyond.
Among those involved in More Than a Vote: Dodgers starter David Price, who opted out of the 2020 season because of concerns about the coronavirus.
On the day James announced the creation of More Than a Vote, he told The New York Times: "Because of everything that's going on, people are finally starting to listen to us; we feel like we're finally getting a foot in the door. How long is up to us. We don't know. But we feel like we're getting some ears and some attention, and this is the time for us to finally make a difference."
All Rights Reserved © 2024
