James praises Stacey Abrams as he increases turnout in the runoff election in the Georgian Senate
By Jonathan Edwards on December 8, 2020 Sports
James has vowed that his voting organization will "tackle" the upcoming runoff elections in the Georgian Senate as part of its ongoing efforts to bring about change in "communities across America.
Four-time NBA champion, James launched More Than A Vote alongside former First Lady Michelle Obama to combat misinformation directed at black voters and to ensure that black Americans were registered to vote in last month's presidential election.
The organization will resume its efforts ahead of the Georgia Senate runoff election scheduled for January 5.
"Right now we are trying to figure out how to continue to push for change in the communities," James said during an appearance on the Uninterrupted Podcast on Wednesday night.
"Not just in my hometown of Akron, Ohio, but in communities across America and hopefully around the world.
"So we're looking for opportunities – there's a huge Senate election campaign coming up in Georgia in January that we need to tackle.
James also praised former Georgia House minority leader Stacey Abrams, who is credited with helping to register nearly 800,000 new voters in minority communities through her New Georgia Project.
"Stacey Abrams down there is a monster," James added. "Call Stacey, you're incredible."
In an October interview with the New York Times, James said he wanted to use his platform to address the sense of disappointment in the black community that he felt was due to years of misinformation.
"We believe that blacks, our community, have been pushed away from our civic duty," said the four-time NBA MVP. "We have been fed misinformation for many years.
And I'm in a position where I can educate people and through More Than a Vote I can educate people about the importance of this movement and the importance of their civic duty," explained the four-time NBA MVP. Not only to empower themselves, but also to give something back to their community".
His efforts paid off, as More Than A Vote estimates that he helped nearly 300,000 Americans across the country to vote and at the same time hired more than 42,000 poll workers.
The organization worked closely with the Atlanta Hawks, one of the 23 NBA teams that used their arenas or training facilities as a registration point, polling station or voting center for the November presidential election.
The Hawks opened the State Farm Arena on October 12, the earliest of all NBA teams, for early voting. Atlanta was also one of 18 NBA franchise teams that used their arena as a polling station on election day, as it turned the State Farm Arena into a polling station in Fulton County, Georgia.
Last month, the Hawks confirmed that they will use the arena for the crucial runoff elections that will determine the balance of power in the Senate.
Georgia held two senatorial elections last month, with incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue running against Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Kelly Loeffler running against Democrat Raphael Warnock.
However, since neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes in each race, state law requires that the races be decided by a runoff.
Along with the Golden State Warriors and the Detroit Pistons, the Hawks were among the NBA teams that told Washington Newsday that they would consider using their arena as a polling station in future elections.
"With COVID-19, the franchise CEO, Steve Koonin, knew there was a way to enable fast and secure voting at the arena," said Garin Narain, the Hawks' VP of Public Relations.
"It [serves as a voting venue]is definitely something we would consider in order to resolve any scheduling issues.
The efforts of Abrams and More Than A Vote delivered tangible results in November, when turnout rose sharply.
According to the National Election Pool and Edison Research, just over 518,000 votes were cast in Fulton County this year, compared to just under 415,000 in 2016.
While Hillary Clinton barely exceeded 297,000 votes in Fulton County four years ago, President-elect Joe Biden won just over 381,000 votes this year, being the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992.
James explained that More Than A Vote hopes to ride the wave before next month's runoff election.
"We will stand behind it and hopefully bring about change," he said.
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