University Of Georgia To Allow Football -- But Not In-person Voting -- This Fall

In the meantime, 1000’s of followers are anticipated to attend UGA’s first dwelling soccer recreation on October 3.

The college was unable to discover a appropriate location to host early voting on campus, according to an announcement Wednesday by the non-partisan student-run voter registration group UGAVotes. The group had hoped that in-person voting might happen on the college’s massive basketball area to keep away from lengthy strains and crowded circumstances, however the college didn’t imagine it had the sources to scrub the coliseum at night time, in response to Marshall Berton, a junior and UGAVotes’ govt director.

“From the coed perspective, it is undoubtedly disappointing to see UGA prioritize soccer video games, and simply how lengthy and arduous they have been working to get these within the works and get to a very good level the place everyone seems to be snug,” mentioned Juliet Eden, a senior and the communications director of Truthful Combat UGA, a division of the voting rights group based by former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. “It is arduous to not see them battle simply as arduous to supply a protected atmosphere for the on-campus early voting.”

However a UGA spokesman pushed again on the concept that in-person voting ought to be in comparison with spectating at a recreation.

“These evaluating this matter to a soccer recreation ought to be capable of acknowledge that soccer video games will likely be performed outside however we’ll nonetheless require social distancing by considerably lowering capability within the stadium,” UGA spokesman Greg Trevor advised CNN in an e-mail Wednesday. “Now we have eradicated tailgating as properly because of a want to maintain the campus as protected as attainable and restrict guests in the course of the pandemic.”

The college’s web site mentioned that Sanford Stadium, which might match greater than 90,000 individuals, will likely be working at roughly 20% to 25% capability for soccer video games. And the Athens Banner-Herald reported in August that the varsity’s athletic division assured its boosters that it will dedicate important sources to measures like extra coronavirus testing and improved sanitization procedures heading into the autumn season.

In-person voting occurred on UGA’s campus for each the 2016 presidential election and for the 2018 midterm elections. This 12 months, college students can nonetheless use absentee ballots, which have change into increasingly utilized during the Covid-19 pandemic, or vote at an off-campus location in downtown Athens.

The college mentioned it would present a shuttle to the downtown voting location.

“That is definitely a disappointing choice in our eyes. However we really feel assured that there are options to voting on campus that can be capable of complement this voting location,” Berton of UGAVotes advised CNN. “We’re on no account consultants with regards to social distancing or sanitization, so if the college didn’t imagine that they have been in a position to implement these precautions in an effort to make voting protected for everybody, then finally, that is the choice they’ll make.”

The announcement caught the eye of plenty of Georgia politicians, together with Democratic Senate nominee Jon Ossoff, who tweeted, “I urge UGA to reverse course instantly and supply college students with protected, on-campus Early Voting!”

Truthful Combat UGA created a petition asking the varsity to alter its choice, and Abrams shared it, tweeting, “#COVID19 mustn’t ever be used as an excuse to restrict voting entry, together with on faculty campuses.” Inside a number of hours, greater than 600 individuals had signed.

“If we will have soccer, we must always have voting, too,” Fair Fight UGA tweeted Wednesday.

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