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The Election Day eve report: How we're getting in the game

As Election Day approaches in the U.S., here's how the NBA, its teams and its partners are preparing for action.

Bailey Colon for NBA.com

The NBA family is committed to league-wide action encouraging voter participation. Make sure your voice is heard this year and in future elections.

Get out and vote. That four-word statement that could make a difference for individuals, their communities, and yes, even your favorite NBA players. Here’s the game plan: 

“Ultimately this is about everyone being able to participate in democracy,” James Cadogan, the Executive Director of the NBA’s Social Justice Coalition, told ABC News in August. “Getting out to register, getting out to vote, learning about the issues they care about, and then making their voice heard.”   

Across the country, the NBA and its teams dove head-first into their communities, following the approach of the Social Justice Coalition at large — awareness, leadership, and action.

Let’s look at the numbers: 

30: Number of teams that played on Nov. 7.

9: Official partnerships between teams and county government and/or election officials.

14: Team voter education websites.

14: NBA facilities used as a voting registration, tallying, or polling location.

8: NBA partnerships with nonpartisan civic engagement organizations. (There are more if you count individual team partnerships, like the Washington Wizards and Headcount.)

0: Games played on Election Day, Nov. 8.

The league started early: 

  • The Charlotte Hornets rolled onto the University of Charlotte campus in a decked-out bus on the first stop of their #SwarmThePolls tour on September 7th. 
  • Teams from Atlanta to Dallas promoted National Black Voter Registration Day on Sept. 18.
  • Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. used social media to encourage fans to register to vote on Sept. 20 for National Voter Registration Day. 

 In October, teams ramped up their efforts: 

  • The Houston Rockets hosted the League of Women’s Voters on Oct. 2.
  • The Miami Heat provided transportation to registered students in the Miami-Dade school district to an early voting location where they were celebrated with a pizza and a rally.  
  • With WNBA stars Elizabeth Williams and Alysha Clark in attendance, the Washington Wizards hosted a Civic Engagement night in partnership with Headcount for Early Voting Day on October 28th at Capitol One Arena.   

To wrap up the Election Day festivities, all 30 teams will play on Nov. 7 in a night dedicated to league-wide civic engagement efforts. Six of those teams will continue the excitement by using their arenas as official polling places on Nov. 8.  

With 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 in the Senate, 30 Attorney Generals and 36 gubernatorial spots up for grabs, the impact of the election is universal, despite the misconception that midterms aren’t as important as their presidential counterparts. Fifty-three percent “citizen voting-age” people voted in the 2018 midterm election, compared to the 66.8% of citizens that voted in the 2020 Presidential election.   

For more information on Election Day — as well as team resources — visit NBA.com/elections.

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