Wizards star Beal says he has learned lesson, will finally vote at 27

Wizards star Bradley Beal says he understands why some people have doubts about the importance of registering to vote — he had similar hang-ups in previous elections.

This fall, at age 27, he plans to cast a ballot for the first time. And he’s urging people not to repeat his past mistake.

Beal joined District of Columbia elections officials last week to encourage early voting this fall. Beal said he was on the fence about whether voting was worth the trouble in past elections.

“I was someone who thought my vote didn’t count,”he said ruefully. “(Now) I stand here and say it does.”

The Washington shooting guard is one of a throng of NBA players who are advocating for their peers and others to vote in the upcoming election and find ways to get involved in advocating social justice.

Their efforts came to a head last month, when playoff games stopped for three days as players protested the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

After the protest, the NBA launched initiatives including a coalition of players, coaches and governors to promote voting access, and the use of NBA arenas as voting locations.

Speaking at his team’s arena, Beal said he changed his mind about the importance of voting after having conversations with his parents and grandparents, who taught him what they went through to secure the right to vote.

“I was kind of ignorant. Being naive — ‘who cares, how many people in the world, OK, my vote won’t count’ — that’s kind of ignorant thinking, and I totally migrated from that,”Beal said.