Kerr cast his vote, hands out stickers

SAN FRANCISCO » Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr cast his vote, then spent some of his own time Saturday morning greeting others who visited the ballot drop- off location at Chase Center.

Kerr handed out blue, Warriors- themed “I Voted” stickers to match the one on his gray sweatshirt.

“It’s an easy way to vote, I just dropped my ballot off,” Kerr said. “We’re trying to remind everybody not only of the importance of voting, but we’re trying to make it as easy as possible to exercise your vote. It’s important for everybody to have that right and to have easy access.”

He posed for photos with fans, stood in for selfies and talked some basketball, too, of course. But most of all, Kerr wanted to support the early voters and encourage others to take to the polls as Tuesday’s election nears.

The Warriors’ former practice facility in downtown Oakland — now used for their youth camp operations — will be a voting place through Tuesday.

“It’s just a good way for us as a company, as a team, an organization, to remind people we’re not just a basketball team. We’re hopefully an asset to the community and we want to be able to help people, and hopefully win a bunch of games in the process and keep everybody entertained, but we’d like to think that we’re an important part of the community,” Kerr said. “And we need to prove that by doing things like this.”

An outspoken NBA face on issues such as gun violence, police brutality and racial injustice, Kerr applauded the youth working to make positive change.

He walked in an Oakland peace march this past spring.

Kerr said it isn’t hard to do double duty right now as a basketball coach and a voice as a public figure with a platform for those who don’t have one.

“Our country is in turmoil and everybody plays a role,” he said. “If we’re truly a democracy, then ‘ We the People,’ that’s the key phrase, right, in the Constitution, ‘ We the People.’ So, who’s that? That’s us.”