American Airlines Arena Won't Serve As Voting Site In November
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Despite a crusade from the Miami Heat to turn the American Airlines Arena into a voting site for November, Miami-Dade County is saying no.
The county owns the arena and gets the final say.
Mayor Carlos Gimenez says voting in downtown Miami will instead be at the Frost Science Museum.
Mayor Gimenez says it's more accessible to public transit and can be used as a voting site in future years.
In a statement, the Heat says in part, "To say we are disappointed is a huge understatement."
The team pledges to remain a critical voice on the importance of voting.
The Joe Biden campaign released the following statement:
"Our elected officials should make it easier, not harder, to participate in our democracy. A well-known landmark to the Miami-Dade community, the American Airlines Arena would have been a familiar and easily-accessible early voting location. In his decision yesterday, Mayor Gimenez is in clear coordination with Donald Trump and his plainly-stated goal of suppressing the vote. In doing so, Mayor Gimenez, a candidate for Congress and Trump loyalist who will be on the ballot, has done a disservice to one of the most American and patriotic duties that we have as Americans: the act of voting.
"But make no mistake, Floridians have already requested millions of vote-by-mail ballots, a sign that we are ready to turn out in huge numbers this fall, despite Trump and Gimenez's best efforts."
CBS4 did not receive a reply from the Trump camp.
