Election Day will be on Nov. 3. All AAC student-athletes are being encouraged to exercise their right to vote with the day off. | Christopher Charleston/The Cougar
The American Athletic Conference will make Election Day a day free from all athletic activities and competitions, it announced Wednesday afternoon.
“The right of every citizen to vote is the cornerstone of American democracy, and the ability of our student-athletes to exercise that right and civic duty is enormously important,” AAC commissioner Mike Aresco said in a statement released by the conference. “I applaud our schools for removing any potential impediments to voting, and for supporting the participation of our student-athletes in the celebration of our republic.”
In addition to the off day for most of its schools, the AAC will work with with members of its Racial Equality Action Group and its Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to help its student-athletes register to vote as well as provide them with information to educate them on early voting protocols as well as absentee ballot requirements and deadlines.
Back in June, just weeks following the death of George Floyd, UH men’s basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson spoke on his belief that election day should be a day off for his student-athletes.
“Nov. 3, that should be an automatic day off,” he said. “Every one of our kids should be registered to vote… (and) we should educate them on the candidates.”
“Some of this will be absentee voting, some of it will be taking them to a stall and letting them see what voting is all about,” Sampson added.
