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The Reasoning Behind the Rejection of Miami HEAT’s Voting Arena

The Miami HEAT released a statement on September 4th with the unfortunate news that they will not be able to use their arena in downtown Miami as a voting center. It was disappointing news for the team and fans, especially when other NBA arenas have already been approved as polling centers for the upcoming election. They had high hopes of using American Airlines Arena as the voting location, but Miami-Dade County had the final say, now changing the location to the Frost Science Museum. Now most are left wondering why this is the case for this team only. 

The County had the final say due to the arena not being a team-owned facility, but instead being the property of Miami-Dade County. “We had really worked with the county to check all the boxes that they seemingly wanted checked. We checked all of those. It didn’t work out. We are left questioning and wondering,” Miami HEAT coach Erik Spoelstra says disappointedly. There was obviously a lot of confusion being that it seems as though the team did everything they were supposed to do in order to make this happen for their city yet were still turned down. Spoelstra then continued by stating, “I will promise you this, this is not going to stop us. We will get involved one way or another.” 

Now what everyone wants to know is why. Accusations have surfaced stating that this decision on where to put the early-voting sites in Miami-Dade was politicized. The HEAT’s offer to use their arena as a voting site was in order to increase voter turnout and have a convenient and well-known place to do so, but Carlos Gimenez, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, rejected this altogether. A statement came out from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign that called Gimenez “a Trump loyalist” and is doing a disservice to the act of voting. 

The Miami-Dade County area is made up of about 64% Democratic voters, but the majority of the state’s political leaders are Republican. The rejection of this voting site seems like an effort to keep the Democrats in the county from being able to vote, since the Republicans do not want Joe Biden votes. They also do not want to cooperate with this movement of making it easier for African Americans to vote.

“Voting, to me, is the most American thing you can do for a democracy to work,” Orlando Magic center Mo Bamba told NBC. The county trying to restrict individuals from the abilities to easily vote is discriminating and unfair to those who have the right to voice their opinions. 

This disappointing news should not stop individuals in the Miami-Dade Area or anywhere in the United States, but instead should be their motivation to show up at the polls. The world is already a hard enough place for the African-American communities so this all being added on top of it is saddening. This will not stop the Miami HEAT organization or individuals in the Miami area. They will get involved one way or another and be sure they get their votes out, which is inspiring to see this amount of dedication.

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