• The NBA announced Tuesday that it will not hold any games on Election Day. 
  • The organization said it is trying to to encourage people to vote in the midterm elections.
  • All 30 NBA teams will play the night before Election Day in what the league is calling a "civic engagement night."

The NBA announced Tuesday that it will not be holding any games on November 8 — US Election Day — to encourage more people to vote in the midterms.

"The scheduling decision came out of the NBA family's focus on promoting nonpartisan civic engagement and encouraging fans to make a plan to vote during midterm elections," NBA Communications tweeted Tuesday. 

The move was first announced on "Morning Joe" on Tuesday by NBC reporter Shaquille Brewster.

The NBA said it wants to build on what it did in 2020 when it turned more than two dozen arenas into voting centers for the 2020 election.

 

"It's unusual," James Cadogan, the Executive Director of the NBA's Social Justice Coalition, told Brewster. "We don't usually change the schedule for an external event, but voting on Election Day are obviously unique and incredibly important to our Democracy, and that's part of the value proposition that we want to make sure people understand, that voting is unlike anything else."

He added that if someone pointed out the move was a "symbolic gesture," he would say it's a "good symbol."

"If we are talking about getting out, registering, voting, making your voice heard in whatever way you think is most important. Those are symbols that I think most people can and will support," Cadogan told Brewster.

In addition, all 30 NBA teams will play the night before Election Day in what the league is calling a "civic engagement night," Brewster said. 

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