ATLANTA — The home of the Atlanta Hawks will soon transform into the largest voting precinct in Georgia history.
The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections approved State Farm Arena as a new voting location Monday. Channel 2′s Sophia Choi was there when the announcement was made.
“There is no other city, no other voting location in the country that has anything like this,” Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts told Choi. “This was like a God send for us.”
During this month’s primary, voters became frustrated with long lines and other voting issues. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin came up with the idea to use the arena for early voting.
“Our 700,000 square-foot building will allow for CDC requirements including social distancing,” he said.
Along with the building, the Hawks employees and players will work side-by-side with poll workers.
“Having everyone in our organization participating is something we are all very proud of,” Hawks owner Tony Ressler said.
Principal Owner Tony Ressler on making State Farm Arena an official polling location in Georgia: pic.twitter.com/ditSJ9p58m
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) June 29, 2020
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At a march held earlier this month, Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce made a commitment to help voters. The Hawks are pushing for other cities to do the same with their arenas.
“We want to get 30 cities in our country being able to take part,” Pierce said.
State Farm Arena will be open to voters in all Fulton districts for early voting during Georgia primary runoffs and November general election.
The arena will not be open on Election Day because voters must go to their assigned precincts.
The Fulton County elections board also approved an additional 18 early voting sites, three in each district.
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