You can either allow college athletes the opportunity to perform their civic duty, or you can do it for the kids. Guess which is the popular option for college football on Election Day.
Last September, amid a raging pandemic, a contentious presidential election and a social justice movement that extended to college campuses, the NCAA approved a historic measure, mandating that schools hold no practice or competition on Election Day each year moving forward.
But a year later, on Election Day 2021, dozens of schools are holding required activities for athletes after having NCAA waivers approved during a process that some feel is unfair, disappointing and further proof that the policy needs further examining…
As the organization that proposed the Election Day legislation last year, SAAC oversaw the waiver process, Cassidy says, deciding to give programs a “grace period” since the legislation is only 14 months old. As many as 15 waivers were approved, he says, some of which were “full-conference” waivers. Waivers were mostly granted to avoid scheduling issues, specifically for sports that are in the postseason, such as soccer and cross country.
Yet, many schools received waivers to hold football and basketball practices on Tuesday, an issue some administrators believe creates an unequal playing field and defeats the purpose of the legislation, originally meant for athletes to vote, learn about the voting process and/or engage in voter education within their communities. One athletic director estimated that more than half of the 130-member FBS received a waiver. Another put the number at “at least 100” schools.
It’s amazing anybody takes the NCAA’s gestures seriously. Its members sure don’t.
Is early/absentee voting not a thing with College Kids?
You think they really care who the local local Mayor/Council person/Dog Catcher is? If they do, see above.
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Believe it or not, your local elected officials have a lot more influence over your quality of life than the state or federal officials. If anything, we should pay the most attention to the local elections and the least to the national ones.
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No doubt…I always vote.
I was directing my comment to college aged kids.
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When I came home in 1969 I was two months short of my 20th birthday and couldn’t vote for 14 months. I never miss, we drove back from the beach today so we would vote on the ESPLOST.
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In 72, I was in West Pac and got an absentee ballot. The hoops required to vote were overwhelming for an enlisted puke. I was required to fill out my ballot in the presence of a commissioned officer and other crap I can’t even remember. I finally said, to hell with it and that became the only time in my life that I was eligible to vote and didn’t.
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Having been an enlisted “puke” and an officer, I have voted absentee over several years. The officer supervising absentee ballot voting is a legitimate safeguard to insure tha everything is correct so the ballot would not be thrown out….he has the offical standing as a notary public…and the “pukes” never complained and were proud to vote.
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Hopefully Georgia isn’t practicing today so all of the players on the roster can spend their day researching and voting on the one thing on the ballot in Clarke County, the renewal of the existing E-Splost tax. I’d hate for them to lose that opportunity.
This seems like a silly rule to me. If voting on election day were the only option, there would be a case for this. But voters have umpteen choices to get their ballots in ahead of time if they’re going to be busy on election day. At most, this should be a once-every-four-years thing since Presidential elections are the only time we get the sort of turnout that creates lines long enough to create an issue for someone with a busy day. You could vote in Athens today more quickly than you could fill your car up with gas.
My mistake here is probably due to looking at this from a practical standpoint rather than the messaging exercise it was always intended to be. Vote or Die!
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Stankey Sankey.
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“Vote early and often.” – Big Bill Thompson, Mayor of Chicago
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The NCAA is a paper tiger.
-Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
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Taffy III!
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If you’ve never read “Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” by James D. Hornsfischer, you absolutely should. It will make you stand up and cheer!
It is a historical and accurate account of the finest hour of the US Navy in WW2. It will make you proud as hell to be an American.
Go F yourself, Yamamoto.
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My old man spent 4 years on a tin can in the Pacific so it’s of special interest to me. The Last Stand is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read but it’s worth it to pick up Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941-1945 by Evan Thomas as well. It’s about the same action but with a little different focus. When I took my dad to the dedication of the Pacific Wing of what was then the D-Day Museum (now the WW2 Museum in New Orleans) there was a group from Taffy 3. This was 2001, four years before The Last Stand was published. When I asked him what Taffy 3 was he said he didn’t know. The reason is that because of the monumental screw up by Halsey chasing the Japanese Carrier fleet north and leaving the American invasion fleet defenseless the Navy basically squashed the battle so Halsey didn’t look bad. My father worshiped Halsey and hated MacArthur but he was shocked when he read the book.
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The bravery shown by the sailors of Taffy 3 is nothing short of incredible. It makes me proud to be the Grandson of a WW2 Tin Can Sailor.
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“Fully cognizant of the inevitable result of engaging such vastly superior forces, these men performed their assigned duties coolly and efficiently until their sip was shot from under them.”
-Commander (later rear admiral) Leon S. Kintberger, USS Hoel.
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What ship? My dad was on the USS Crosby APD 17. They landed the first troops in the Philippines, the 6th Rangers led by Bull Simons!
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Athens student athletes had the choice of absentee voting, advance voting, drop box voting, or 12 hours in person today to perform their civic duty and make their voice heard.
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Only players registered to vote in Athens had all those choices. A kid from South Georgia would not be able during the season to drive 4 hours home. vote and return. Absentee would be the only option.
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What about kids from out state? Probably should give them three days off to do it. Two days of travel and a day to vote. Seriously, if someone really interested in voting there is plenty of ways to make their vote count. Giving them the day off is not necessary.
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Alabama #2— HAHAHA.
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Braves win the World Series.
Fuck me to tears.
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BRAVES WIN! There is a God. F the Asterisks. The Braves ARE those MFers.
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