Milwaukee Bucks hoping to offer team facilities as voting locations

Following the lead of other teams around the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks reportedly want to offer team facilities as voting sites in upcoming elections.

It’s been a quiet few months on the court for the NBA, but off the court, the league has arguably never been more active.

That kind of statement would normally bring to mind the usual hub of activity that can accompany the deals that can shape the league off the court, but rather than trades, the draft, or free agency, much of the news from around the league in recent months has centered around the positive contributions of teams, players, and staff in their home communities.

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Taking just the Milwaukee Bucks as an example, those contributions range from players donating to local charities and businesses since the coronavirus pandemic has hit, players and staff joining with ownership to cover the salaries of arena workers during the season suspension, and then more recently players standing at the forefront of the franchise’s efforts in protesting against police brutality and racial injustice.

Following the lead of other teams around the NBA in recent days, it now looks as if the Bucks’ next step in their efforts to serve the city of Milwaukee will come in the form of the team’s facilities being used as a voting location in upcoming elections.

The Atlanta Hawks announced their plans on Monday to have State Farm Arena act as Georgia’s largest ever voting precinct, providing voters of Fulton County an opportunity to cast ballots early, and to do so in a safe, controlled environment which will adhere to the CDC’s social distancing requirements.

More Than A Vote, a nonpartisan voting rights group established by LeBron James in recent months, has lobbied sports teams to provide their facilities as in-person voting locations, due to their size providing greater scope for safe voting.

The Detroit Pistons have also followed the Hawks’ lead, and according to USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt, the Bucks may well be next.

Following conversation with Bucks senior vice president Alex Lasry, Zillgitt reported that the Bucks will begin discussions with city officials about the possibility of Fiserv Forum serving as a voting site.

"“Bucks senior VP Alex Lasry says Bucks want to offer Fiserv Forum as a potential voting site and will discuss idea with city officials and other NBA teams to ‘expand safe voting opportunities to as many citizens as possible.'”"

Lasry later shared the team’s intentions publicly, via his Twitter account.

"“We’re excited to partner with More Than A Vote to make Fiserv Forum available as a potential voting site. We’re looking forward to working with the City of Milwaukee, in any capacity that we can, to ensure [people] can safely exercise their right to vote!”"

Of course, Fiserv Forum was scheduled to host the Democratic National Convention this summer before COVID-19 forced a significant reduction in that event’s scale, and a shift to online for many elements. Per reporting in recent days from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that led to complicated and contentious negotiations between the Bucks and the DNC, which have since reached a resolution.

With the Bucks set to spend the next few months in Orlando, though, putting Fiserv Forum to use as a safe and accessible voting hub seems like a no-brainer move that would serve the people of Milwaukee very well.