If you haven’t heard, an Election Day is fast approaching on November 3rd. Not just any election, but perhaps the biggest of our lifetime, with nothing more at stake than the very democracy we’ve taken as a given, and perhaps, for granted.
“Vote like your life depends on it,” Natasha Cloud said during a call in early October about her social justice activism. Cloud, a starting guard with the 2019 WNBA champion Washington Mystics, and Renee Montgomery, a two-time champion and free agent, both opted out of the 2020 season in the “wubble” of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, to pursue social justice initiatives, many of which were centered on voting.
With exactly two weeks until the 2020 presidential election, The Hard Screen brings you an election special featuring:
- interviews with Montgomery and Cloud about their efforts to combat voter suppression and educate voters on the electoral process in their respective cities of D.C. and Atlanta;
- a breakdown why it has become so difficult for some voters to cast their ballots this year; and
- a review of what individual WNBA teams have done to encourage voting in the cities in which they play.
Subscribe to The Hard Screen Newsletter to receive comprehensive reporting on the voter suppression of 2020 that is so dire these championship-winning elite athletes chose to forego their salaries in order to help their communities.
Important Voting Deadlines
Election Day is on Tuesday, November 3rd. With the number of polling locations drastically reduced nationwide, voters are encouraged to mask up, wear comfy shoes and prepare to wait in long lines.
In some states, you can still register to vote! Not all … not most … but some. If you have not registered to vote yet, check out the IMPORTANT VOTING DEADLINES in all 50 states (via When We All Vote). A few states, for example, allow voters to register at the time they cast their ballot on Election Day!
Deadlines for voting by mail-in and absentee ballot also are available at the link above.
Unite the Vote
The Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Las Vegas Aces, Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm and Washington Mystics participated in the Unite the Vote Challenge registration drive and competition in August and September, in partnership with When We All Vote.
Unite the Vote goes deeper than the disenfranchisement of Black voters and addresses the neglect of the women’s Suffragist movement to include Black women, in particular, in its pursuit of voting rights for women. An unequivocal achievement for human rights, the 19th Amendment granted white women the right to vote 100 years ago on August 18th. It failed, however, to include Black women, particularly those in the Jim Crow South, who would have to wait another 40 years, for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to get their turn at the ballot box.
How to Vote in (Some) WNBA Cities
Beyond registering voters, some teams opened their arenas as polling stations:
Los Angeles Sparks
The Sparks partnered with their Staples Center fellows, the Kings and Lakers, plus AEG and the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, to secure the venue as a voting center for 11 days, the maximum number of days voters can cast in-person ballots in the county. According to a team press release, “Voters can cast their ballots at STAPLES Center beginning Saturday, October 24 through Election Day, November 3,” and voters who have chosen the vote-by-mail option can drop their completed ballots at the secure drop boxes that will be provided at Staples Center by the L.A. County Registrar’s office.
“The 2020 WNBA season was dedicated to social justice and the importance of voting as a means to create change,” said Danita Johnson, President & COO, LA Sparks. “The Sparks are honored to partner with AEG, Staples Center, the Kings and Lakers to help provide LA voters with an additional venue and dates to vote and have their voices be heard.”
Staples Center will be available to registered voters who live in Los Angeles County from:
From October 24 to November 2 // 10:00 am – 7:00 pm Pacific
Election Day, Tuesday, November 3 // 7:00 am – 8:00 pm Pacific
New York Liberty
The Liberty will open their arena to voters during the same October 24 to November 3 time span. Liberty and Brooklyn Nets owner Joseph Tsai, who also owns Barclays Center, worked with Executive Director of the NYC Board of Elections Michael Ryan, BSE Global CEO John Abbamondi, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and NYC Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo to secure the site as a voting location.
The Liberty made their announcement on National Poll Worker Recruitment Day. If you are in New York City and want to be a poll worker, visit: elections.ny.gov.
“Voting rights are under attack in this country,” NYC Council Majority Leader Cumbo said. “As a global pandemic threatens our ability to safely access the polls, and we have executive leadership whose continued attempts to suppress voters threaten the future of our democracy, it is up to local governments and leadership to innovate and ensure equal voting opportunities. Casting your ballot in person should be as simple as hopping on a train. Designating Barclays Center as an early voting site between October 24 and November 1 and a polling place on November 3 are critical steps toward increasing civic engagement throughout District 35 and beyond! I stand alongside fellow community leaders in applauding Barclays Center and the NYC Board of Elections for making this possible.”
To register to vote and find your polling site, visit www.vote.nyc.
Phoenix Mercury
The Mercury and their brother team, the Suns, secured the Veterans Memorial Coliseum as a voting location. Suns managing partner Robert Sarver and the Suns’ Devin Booker and Mikal Bridges, formed a task force that included Arizona state and Maricopa County officials to secure the arena known as the Madhouse on McDowell as a voting center and ballot drop location.
“The task force has worked closely with the offices of Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and the Arizona State Fair Board to establish the Madhouse as a central voting center location that can be set up to provide safe and socially distanced voting,” a team press release stated.
The franchise was not about to secure its usual home court, Talking Stick Resort Arena, due to renovations.
Washington Mystics
Natasha Cloud tried to secure Entertainment and Sports Arena, where the Mystics play, as a voting location in Wards 7 and 8 in Southeast D.C. The owners of the arena would not approve their home court as a voting location but she, along with Bradley Beal of the NBA’s Wizards, were able to arrange for D.C. voters to cast their ballots at Capital One Arena.