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Former NFL exec: Sports venues ideal polling places

Long lines in Georgia for June’s primary inspired Scott Pioli to suggest a better way.getty images

Longtime NFL executive and consultant Scott Pioli has seen up close how the right to vote isn’t equally available — how people in poorer, racially diverse neighborhoods often endure long lines and confusion on Election Day while wealthier suburban voters have it relatively easy.

Pioli says the sports industry has the means and moral obligation to help, and for the past two months he has been making that case to state election officials across the country, along with pro teams and universities that control large athletic venues. He’s asking them to turn those arenas and stadiums into polling locations this November, giving city residents more places to vote that are big enough to allow for social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Why aren’t we using these publicly built facilities for the public, for one of our most basic rights as Americans?” Pioli asked.

Pioli, who has lived in Georgia since starting his five-year stint as the Atlanta Falcons assistant general manager in 2014, got the idea after his state’s troubled June 9 primary election. His absentee ballot came too late, so he couldn’t vote.

That only accentuated his frustrations about election administration in Georgia. One year, his central-city precinct’s voting line snaked around a church parking lot as soon as it opened; another time, he voted with virtually no problems in the upscale Buckhead district.

This year’s election problems, with the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement and the pandemic exacerbating logistical issues, compelled him to act.

“This isn’t just about voting, and this current election, it’s about equality,” said Pioli, who appears on NFL Network and has done consulting work with the league. “We’re sitting here this time, like we have so many other times, asking ‘What can I do?’ And it seems like more than ever, there’s a large number of people that look like me asking, out loud, ‘What can I do?’ There’s a lot we can do.”

Pioli isn’t alone in his quest. LeBron James’ voting rights group, More Than A Vote, has argued for NBA arenas to open as polling sites. The Detroit Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks have already announced plans to open their arenas to voting.

In June, Pioli met with the National Association of Secretaries of State, and says “double digit” states (run by both parties) have reached out to him since then.

On July 21, Pioli wrote a column at NFL.com expanding on his vision, asking NFL teams to contribute “time, treasure and talent” to combating voter suppression. For instance, he wrote, teams could give employees Election Day off so they can work at polls, or fund voter education campaigns.

“This is an opportunity for the entire NFL to be leaders,” Pioli wrote.

Pioli is aware he’s wading into politically fraught turf. But he insists his work is apolitical — he just wants well-run, fair elections, and he thinks his connections and influence after two decades in the NFL can help make that happen.

“Voters’ rights is one of the things we can be doing as white people to work towards equality,” Pioli said.

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