Live Nation Converting Venues Into Polling Sites for 2020 Elections
Live Nation has launched a new initiative to temporarily turn venues it owns into polling sites for the 2020 elections.
The concert industry giant said Wednesday that it is discussing with local officials the feasibility of converting over 100 venues across the country. So far, Live Nation confirmed four venues will serve as polling sites: the Wiltern and Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, Emo’s in Austin and the Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta. The Fillmore in Philadelphia is also in the final stages of the vetting process.
“Live Nation has stepped up to the mic in providing our community safe in-person voting experiences at two iconic music venues,” said L.A. County registrar-recorder/county clerk, Dean C. Logan. “It is collaborations such as this that demonstrate the spirit of community engagement and the strength of our democracy.”
The move to make concert venues into polling places follows a similar effort spurred by NBA players last month, after the Milwaukee Bucks led a one-game strike in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As part of the deal to restart the playoffs, the league and players mandated that NBA team-owned arenas must work with local election officials to turn the facilities into voting locations. A handful of teams — including the Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets — had already announced their arenas would serve as polling places, and they were soon followed by the Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs and more.
As part of its efforts to turn venues into polling places, Live Nation has partnered with the non-partisan business coalition, Civic Alliance, and More Than a Vote, a voting advocacy group formed this summer by LeBron James and other NBA stars.
“By converting their concert venues into voting locations, Live Nation is creating a safe and convenient way for people to exercise their right to vote this fall,” said Michael Tyler, More Than a Vote’s EVP of public affairs. “Similar to the sports arenas More Than A Vote has worked to convert into voting locations, many of Live Nation’s venues are located in the heart of the communities that we are committed to empowering in this election and offer the same Covid protections due to their large capacity.”