NEW YORK CITY — The National Basketball Association announced Tuesday that teams would not play any games on Election Day this year.
The league said that the decision not to play that day was so "the NBA family’s focus on promoting nonpartisan civic engagement and encouraging fans to make a plan to vote during midterm elections."
CNN reported that the league added that teams would share information on the voting processes in their state and registration deadlines leading up to Nov. 8.
According to the Associated Press, 30 teams are scheduled to play on Nov. 7, the night before the midterm elections.
The move for the league to not play on Election Day is a rare one, the news outlet pointed out. Typically the league doesn't play on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, nor do they try to play on the day of the NCAA men’s basketball championship game, the Associated Press reported.
“It’s unusual. We don’t usually change the schedule for an external event,” executive director of the NBA’s social justice coalition James Cadogan told NBC. “But voting and Election Day are obviously unique and incredibly important to our democracy.”
This isn't the first time the NBA has become involved in election-related issues.
The news outlets reported that in 2020, several NBA teams made their arenas available for polling places.
As voters head to the polls, they'll get to vote to see who will fill all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats that are available, the news outlets reported.
According to CNN, 36 states will be electing governors.
