Lakers, Bulls, 49ers Join 'Rally the Vote' on National Voter Registration Day

Steve Karnowski/Associated Press

The Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and San Francisco 49ers headline a group of nine professional sports teams joining the "Rally the Vote" coalition Tuesday as part of National Voter Registration Day.

The NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings and MLB's Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants are also part of the effort, according to the Associated Press.

Lakers superstar LeBron James, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, said last September that it's important for voters to educate themselves before heading to the polls.

"And I think that's one of the biggest problems that we have," he told reporters. "When it becomes vote time, people are just not educated on either the individual or what's going on in the state of the world right now. ... I don't think a lot of people are educated, and they make choices and say things that are uneducated."

The four-time NBA Most Valuable Player also discussed the unifying power of athletics:

"Sports is so amazing, what sports can do for everyone. No matter the shape or size or race or ethnicity or religion or whatever. People find teams, people find players, people find colors because of sports—they just gravitate toward that and it just makes 'em so happy. And it brings people together like none other."

National Voter Registration Day has been held on the fourth Tuesday of every September since 2012. It "seeks to create broad awareness of voter registration opportunities to reach tens of thousands of voters who may not register otherwise," according to the official website.

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The U.S. Census Bureau reported just 61.4 percent of the voting-age population reported taking part in the 2016 presidential election.