MI: Election voting at Crisler Center? 'Conversation' has begun
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — One of the byproducts of a remarkable sports week that saw the NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLB, MLS and other sports leagues boycott games in the wake of Kenosha (Wisc.) police shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back was the increased emphasis on voting rights in the election.
As part of the NBA's return to the playoffs, it was announced that several teams would turn their buildings into a voting location for the 2020 general election to allow for in-person voting. The push is part of a larger initiative to make pro sports stadiums — that are more recognizable, often have better ventilation and safety capabilities and can logistically house more people — voting centers around the country.
That initiative has inspired others to explore following suit, including Michigan defensive back Hunter Reynolds.
While Reynolds is merely a senior on the football team, not a decision-maker, he has been a part of many discussions as both a member of the Big Ten's Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition and a founding member of College Athlete Unity. Recently, those discussions have begun to turn toward increasing voter access, including the proposition of Michigan's Crisler Center or other facilities being used as voting centers.
"There has been conversation about that," Reynolds said Sunday after he and Eastern Michigan's Tariq Speights led a Black Lives Matter protest in Ann Arbor Sunday. "It’s been pretty recent conversations, it was actually yesterday, myself and some others were speaking about that. But some other people mentioned that they brought it up to their athletic directors, so I plan on doing that at Michigan, talking to (Michigan Athletic Director) Warde (Manuel) about potentially opening up Crisler, the Big House to do that so on November 3rd, people have another outlet to vote."
So far, voting has been among the central initiatives by the Big Ten's Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition, of which both Reynolds and Manuel are members. In fact, the coalition's first initiative was establishing the league's Voter Registration Initiative. From the Big Ten:
https://247sports.com/college/michigan/Article/Election-voting-at-Crisler-Center-Michigan-athletics-discussion-Reynolds-150885068/