Fedexforum won’t be polling place this fall
Will Fedexforum become a polling place this fall?
That was the question after the NBA and National Basketball Players Association released a statement Friday. The NBA said the league will partner with the players on three commitments toward social justice.
One of them was that teams that own and control their arena property would work with local elections officials to turn their arenas into polling places in this fall's general election.
However, the Grizzlies said that Fedexforum would not be converted into a voting center after speaking with the Shelby County Election Commission.
"After careful consideration, the Election Commission determined the best course of action would be to continue their focus of driving voters to their local precincts in order to create the best opportunity for high voter turnout on Election Day," the team said in a statement Friday.
According to an NBA spokesperson, at least 13 NBA teams have begun turning their facilities into voting centers. The Atlanta Hawks were the first to do so in June when they and Fulton County announced State Farm Arena would be Georgia's largest voting precinct.
In June, the Grizzlies reached out to the commission to propose using Fedexforum as a polling place. While they are the arena's main operators, it's owned by the city of Memphis.
The team began efforts to spur voter participation in January after partnering with Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett. In July, they added a campaign to not just encourage people to register but also to know all the candidates on the ballot and apply to be a poll worker because there's a shortage in Shelby County.
They also gave employees paid time off to vote during local and national elections.
Fedexforum is also located in a precinct that has about 4,500 registered voters, according to Shelby County Election Commissioner Linda Phillips. There is a polling place minutes from the arena at Progressive Missionary Baptist Church at 394 Vance Ave.
Phillips said that according to state law, the only way for a place like Fedexforum to become a centralized voting site would be in the event of a natural disaster or public health emergency that eliminates several polling places.
The Grizzlies added they would continue working with the Election Commission "to identify opportunities, such as voter registration drives, to serve the Memphis and Shelby County community in advance of Election Day on Nov. 3."
NBA playoff games will resume Saturday following three days of postponed action. It began Wednesday with the Milwaukee Bucks deciding not to play Game 5 of its playoff series to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin.