The effort already has a footprint in the major swing states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and the group hopes to expand to a maximum of 25 teams and arenas in the coming weeks. The project is also partnering with George Linardos – the CEO of Learfield IMG College, which works with dozens of university athletic programs and conferences – to bring college venues into the fold, and organizers are starting talks with major venues outside the sports world.
“This is exactly the kind of public-private type partnership that the voting process has always needed,” said Amber McReynolds, a former Colorado election official who leads NVAHI. “We always need the support, and I think the pandemic has triggered it.”
The project connects individual arenas and teams with local election officials to develop plans to open for early voting, hold September voter registration programs and serve as November. A superstore is a location set up to handle a large number of voters from across one jurisdiction, typically a province, where anyone can vote, regardless of their usual polling station.
The initiative reflects another attempt by More Than a Vote, a new group started by NBA superstar LeBron James along with other athletes and entertainers, which has recruited other teams, such as the Atlanta Hawks and the Los Angeles Dodgers, to join them now low-open locations like polling stations.
Sports arenas are ideal locations for election work, especially in a pandemic, McReynolds said. These are cavernous spaces that allow hundreds of polling stations while maintaining social distance. Election observers could watch from the stands, and the locations often have large parking structures that can fit voters. In addition, many arenas have already complied with U.S. law with a restriction, which can be a challenge when local election officials are on the hunt for locations.
“It’s important to identify a safe voting location that you know will be open on election day,” said Jared Dearing, executive director of the Kentucky State Election Commission. “It’s also important for emergency planning: On election day, if a polling station can’t open … now you have a release value, an emergency backup plan, and you can direct voters to that location.”
Dearing recommends the program after Kentucky has used the supersenter model in its primary, winning praise of voting rights groups to properly adapt to the pandemic and keep the elections accessible to voters.
The Election Super Centers Project has a group of election experts who recommend the project, and it is also collaborating with groups such as Rock the Vote and Voto Latino to promote voter turnout. Celebrities including Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, singer John Legend and Front Enemy frontman Chuck D have also participated in the project.
