Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has taken a role in LeBron James’ “More Than A Vote” initiative, encouraging citizens to vote, learn about voting processes and the electoral college, and put time and effort into local elections.
“Not only voting in November, but voting at your local elections. I’ve never voted at a local election, and so I’ve been trying to educate myself on the process, educating myself on why that’s important,” Green said on ESPN’s “First Take” on Tuesday.
The “More Than A Vote” initiative, created and funded by James and his business partner Maverick Carter, also involves basketball figures such as Udonis Haslem, Stephen Jackson, Jalen Rose, Skyler Diggins-Smith and Chiney Ogwumike.
“More important than anything, it’s just a bunch of guys and women understanding the need,” Green said. “We have a platform now. This country is not in a great position right now, and we could help create that change and we want to do our part.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFr7CTlY2P4]
The group has been vocal this month in alleging voter suppression, specifically in Kentucky and Georgia, as voting locations have been shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic.
“When you look at these counties that are predominantly black … Jefferson County, different counties of that nature, that’s going to continue to happen because you can look at the data. And the data shows that if the African American population comes out and votes, things are going to change in this country,” Green said. “And so the best way to stop that is to suppress the votes.”
In Kentucky, which is holding primary elections Tuesday, fewer than 200 polling locations are open, about 95% less than the 3,700 open in a typical election, according to the Washington Post. There’s only one in Jefferson County, the state’s most populous county, which is home to about 45% of the state’s Black population.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear expressed confidence to the Courier Journal that absentee mail-in ballots and early voting would help alleviate the crowded facilities.
On Monday morning, the Jefferson County Clerk’s office reported 218,404 absentee ballots had been mailed and 96,000 had been returned, according to the Courier Journal. About 7,500 people had voted early in person last week.
The highest primary total in Kentucky’s history was 192,630 in 2008.
In Georgia’s June 9 election, new voting machines contributed to long lines and failure of poll workers to properly handle the machines, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Some voters who requested absentee ballots did not receive them.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tweeted about machine failures throughout the city.
This seems to be happening throughout Atlanta and perhaps throughout the county. People have been in line since before 7:00 am this morning. https://t.co/l28JvxhZxi
— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) June 9, 2020
One Black voter told Politico it took her three hours to vote, and her nephew six hours; when she drove to a predominantly white polling location, there were no lines.
With long delays forcing voting hours to be extended in some counties, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and House Speaker David Ralston called for investigations, according to the IBTimes.
The state has closed about 5% of polling locations since 2017, when the Supreme Court weakened a 2013 voting-discrimination law, according to Reuters.
More than 665,000 voters were removed from the rolls that same year. Many of those people had been inactive for three years and did not respond to a notice asking if they wanted to remain on the voting roll, according to the Journal-Constitution.
Despite all this, with Georgia mailing every registered active voter an absentee ballot application, there was a greater turnout than last election cycle, particularly for Democrats, according to NBC.
About 20% of the people who had been removed from voting rolls registered in 2008, according to the AJC.
Green himself said he hadn’t voted since 2008.
“I know there are several other people out there just like myself who haven’t voted in years, so I want to help spread my story and the reasons I didn’t — and let them know that it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Green said. “We’ve all had our reasons of why we haven’t gone out to the polls. But right now our lives are on the line, and it’s more important than ever.”