NBA basketball team Orlando Magic has announced that its Amway Center home arena will be used as an early voting location for this year’s US presidential election.
The Magic has partnered with the City of Orlando, Orange County and Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles to open up the arena.
The NBA recently announced that steps would be taken for all team-owned arenas to be used as voting stations for the election. Amway Center is owned by the City of Orlando but an agreement has been reached with the Magic for the arena to be used.
Amway Center will be open from October 19 until November 1, with all registered voters from Orange County to be able to cast their ballot at the arena. It will serve as one of 20 early voting locations within Orange County and will also open for voter registration on September 22, National Voter Registration Day.
The Magic joins a host of other teams that have already announced plans to open their arenas for voting, with others expected to follow suit.
Magic chief executive Alex Martins said: “We are thrilled to say that the Amway Center will be an early voting location here in Orange County.
“In addition, we want to recognise the DeVos family, our entire team of players and coaches, and specifically today, I’d like to thank our president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman, our head coach Steve Clifford and Magic centre Mo Bamba for pushing us forward in these efforts and really initiating these conversations.”
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns’ former home arena, the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, will be used as a voting centre and early voting ballot drop location. The Suns announced the move after a task force including managing partner Robert Sarver and players Devin Booker and Mikal Bridges worked with Arizona state and Maricopa County officials to establish a broad-reaching voter engagement initiative.
All employees of the Suns and WNBA team Phoenix Mercury will be offered the opportunity to volunteer as poll workers at polling locations throughout Maricopa County.
The Suns’ current home, Talking Stick Resort Arena, is not a viable option as a polling centre or voting centre due to ongoing renovation work taking place at the venue.
Image: 350Z53/Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)/Edited for size
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