Sports Arenas Can Be Effective Election Sites, Finds Study Co-led by UMD Researcher

2024 Use of Vegas Stadium Drew Younger, First-Time Voters

Four years after the Las Vegas Raiders moved into their sleek new home in 2020, the team used Allegiant Stadium to forge a deeper connection to the community—one that extended beyond the NFL team’s fans.

By transforming the facility into a polling location during last November’s general elections, the team effectively called a blitz: 4,200 voters flocked in, far surpassing any other polling station in Clark County. The festive atmosphere with mascots, cheerleaders and music drew significantly younger and more first-time voters than other voting locations, according to a report released Monday, co-led by the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE), which analyzed the effects of using sports arenas as election sites.

During the 2020 election at the peak of COVID-19, 48 professional sports facilities morphed into polling stations, an experiment that earned bipartisan praise. Last November, however, very few teams repeated the act; Allegiant Stadium was an exception.

The Las Vegas case study reveals “a unique and politically neutral way to welcome new voters,” said Michael Hanmer, CDCE director and professor of government and politics who coproduced the report with Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

For findings, read John Tucker's article in Maryland Today

Photo by David Becker/Getty Images

Published on Tue, Sep 23, 2025 - 10:13AM