Voters in Alameda County have 100 places to choose from to vote in-person, including the Oakland Arena and the former Golden State Warriors practice facility in downtown Oakland.
Starting Saturday, voters can drop off their ballots or fill them out in places where their favorite sports players used to play.
With the clock ticking down until Election Day, Alameda County registrar workers spent the day transforming the Warriors’ former training facility in downtown Oakland into a one-stop shop for voters.
“I’m a simple guy,” said Thomas Soto of Oakland. “Either you vote or you keep your mouth closed. I’m not much of keeping my mouth closed.”
This weekend, 32 election workers will be at the practice facility making sure voters can cast their ballots, while following social distancing protocols. In East Oakland, Ted Frazier, who pulled up to the gates of the Coliseum, was ready to hand off his ballot.
“I heard on the news this morning that this was going to be a drop-off point,” he said.
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The Oakland Arena and the Warriors practice facility will be open starting from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the same hours apply through Monday.
On Election Day, all voting locations in the county are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Inside the Oakland Arena, video provided by the Oakland A’s shows staff setting up booths for in-person voting, near the north entrance. All that empty parking space outside will serve as a location for curbside voting.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea to utilize this space for a very important cause and there’s a lot of space here,” Frazier said.
Alameda County is seeing a historic surge in early voters. The county reports they’ve received a little less than half a million ballots so far.
“A closed mouth is not going to get fed,” said Soto. “So if you don’t vote, you're gonna be hungry!”
