Hawks approved to turn State Farm Arena into huge voting station for upcoming elections

Measure was taken also to enforce Social distancing against Coronavirus.

The Fulton County Registration and Elections Board approved a plan by the Atlanta Hawks to transform State Farm Arena into a massive polling station for Georgia’s primary runoff election on Aug. 11 and early voting for the general election scheduled for Nov. 3.

The idea was hatched during the weekend after the killing of George Floyd, when the focal point of protests in Atlanta was just outside the Hawks’ home arena. Conversations among Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce, CEO Steve Koonin and majority owner Antony Ressler quickly coalesced around the idea of turning the playing floor into a voting location.

“We were casually brainstorming since our whole world turned about what we can do internally as an organization,” Pierce said. “We were trying to figure out how we can take care of home first, and Koonin pitched the idea.”