NBA To Make Arenas Available To Vote Given Covid-19 Coronavirus

Here’s a reason to go to a National Basketball Association (NBA) arena on November 3, 2020.

It doesn’t have to do with dribbling whether it’s on the court or for “National Sandwich Day,” which happens to be on November 3 if you haven’t already marked it with mustard on your calendar. No, that day, NBA teams will be offering their facilities as voting locations for the 2020 U.S. general election. According to a joint statement from NBA Players Association (NBPA) Executive Director Michele Roberts and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: “In every city where the league franchise owns and controls the arena property, team governors will continue to work with local elections officials to convert the facility into a voting location for the 2020 general election to allow for a safe in-person voting option for communities vulnerable to COVID.”

Yes, if you haven’t heard the news yet, November 3 will be voting day in America. This will determine who will be inhabiting the White House for at least the next four years. It’s kind of a big deal. So mark this day on your calendar right next to the sandwich emoji, assuming that you have any interest in what will happen to our country.

The problem is there’s this thing called the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. If you haven’t heard about it yet, look it up, as it is not a good situation. The U.S., by far, leads the world in deaths from the Covid-19 coronavirus with already over 181,000 people being killed. Claiming that this pandemic is no big deal or well-controlled in the U.S. would be like calling Game of Thrones a rom-com television series. This pandemic will not “disappear” or go away anytime soon unless you happen to have a time machine or plan on taking a toilet paper roll-filled rocket to Jupiter.

So it’s natural to wonder what will happen come November 3. Voting may conjure up images of waiting in long lines and stepping into enclosed indoor voting booths that have been used by numerous other people. Without enough precautions and assurances, you may be wary about going to vote. After all, aren’t politicians supposed to make you sick after you vote for them, rather than when you are voting?

Therefore, it will be important to have as many safer voting options as possible. Election officials should taking all the necessary infection prevention precautions. This includes providing enough space for you to socially distance yourself from others throughout the voting process, including while you’re waiting in line. Remember, social distancing means staying at least one Denzel apart from everyone else. (A Denzel is six feet, since that’s the approximate height of Denzel Washington. A Denzel is also equivalent to a Gosling, as in a Ryan Gosling, or British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wearing a four-inch tall brick on his head.) Additionally, voting locations should keep voting booths clean and disinfected, enforce face covering use, and offer hand washing and hygiene options.

Having a reasonably safe place to vote may be no problem if you live in a wealthy voting district and can take your limousine or hot air balloon to the voting location. If getting enough Snickerdoodle in your Caramel Snickerdoodle Macchiato was your biggest cause of stress before the pandemic, then chances are that voting won’t be too much of a hardship for you in 2020.

But what if you live in a neighborhood that doesn’t have the resources to keep things safe? What if your typical voting location is at a crowded indoor location? What if you have to travel significant distances in unsafe conditions to the location? What if your standard voting location isn’t even open because of the pandemic? Wouldn’t it help to have more voting locations that have a little more space or maybe even a lot more space?

Gee, what kind of location has lots of space, has plenty of places to wash your hands, and is used to dealing with crowds? How about sports arenas and stadiums?

So there probably won’t be people using T-shirt launchers to give you the ballots or the jumbotron showing you voting in slow motion. Nonetheless, this plan is pretty cool NBA arena news, even bigger than the 2018 American Airlines Center decision to have avocado-centric concession stands. Thus, it’s not surprising that the announcement garnered praise on social media. For example:

Hard to argue with these steps by NBA teams because when it comes to sandwiches, underwear sizes, and ways to vote, more options tends to be better than fewer options. Unless, of course, for some reason, you don’t want more people to vote.

The NBA plans to help the vote in other ways too. The joint statement offered the following as well: “If a deadline has passed, team governors will work with local elections officials to find another election-related use for the facility, including but not limited to voter registration and ballot receiving boards.”

The statement emerged after meetings between NBA players, coaches, and team governors. The 2020 NBA playoffs in the Orlando, Florida, social bubble have been on hold since Wednesday when NBA players protested against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, by sitting out of Wednesday’s scheduled NBA playoff games. Looks like the meetings were productive with today’s joint statement and NBA Playoff games scheduled to resume tomorrow.

On Friday, ESPN NBA Analyst Doris Burke offered her thoughts about the situation:

The joint statement also indicated that the NBA and its players will “establish a social justice coalition, with representatives from players, coaches and governors, that will be focused on a broad range of issues, including increasing access to voting, promoting civic engagement, and advocating for meaningful police and criminal justice reform.” Also, expect “advertising spots in each NBA playoff game dedicated to promoting greater civic engagement in national and local elections and raising awareness around voter access and opportunity.”

You can’t argue against social justice, unless, of course, you are against social justice. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted his support of the initiatives announced today:

These moves by the NBA and NBAPA are important public health moves. Social justice is certainly good for the overall health of society. (Although, people perpetrating social injustice may not be so happy about it. Maybe they can form a “who are we going oppress now,” support group.) Offering more safer voting options can prevent further transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronvairus 2 (SARS-CoV2). Besides being a month with “National Calzone Day”, “National Vanilla Cupcake Day,” and the very specific “National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day”, November is when Fall weather begins segueing into Winter weather. That means November may not be a great month to avoid many respiratory viruses or to seek pizza with anchovies. Since flu activity tends to pick up around that time, the concern is that SARS-CoV2 transmission may really surge as well. Who knows what will be happening around then and whether lock-downs will be necessary again.

Therefore, it will be important to expand voting options, offering more and safer locations as well as mail-in options. Providing more options to vote is in general a good thing. The more opportunities to vote, the more people will vote, increasing the chances that the leaders elected will actually be whom the entire country actually wants. Unless, of course, for some reason, you don’t want this to happen.