Live Nation Initiative To Turn Concert Venues Into Polling Sites

Live Nation has launched an initiative to encourage 2020 elections voting by temporarily turning several of its concert venues into polling places. The company is working with local officials to look into the possibility of using more than 100 Live Nation venues across the country as polling places.

To date, The Wiltern and Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, Emo’s in Austin and the Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta are confirmed to serve as polling sites, while Philadelphia’s The Fillmore is in the final stages of the vetting process.

The initiative also gives employees paid time off to vote, and includes partnering with organizations including More Than A Vote and Civic Alliance on voter access and educational efforts.

“Core to what we do at Live Nation is helping amplify voices on stage around the world, and supporting voting is another important way we want to continue making voices heard,” said Michael Rapino, President and CEO of Live Nation. “We’re honored to work with such incredible partners and will do everything in our power to support and empower voter engagement among our employees and the public.”

“Live Nation is going above and beyond by recognizing that elections are about more than just polling places. They’re about our communities,” said Al Schmidt, City Commissioner of Philadelphia. “Live Nation is really stepping up to help during this challenging time – and we are grateful.”

“By converting their concert venues into voting locations, Live Nation is creating a safe and convenient way for people to exercise their right to vote this fall,” said Michael Tyler, EVP of Public Affairs More Than A Vote. “Similar to the sports arenas More Than A Vote has worked to convert into voting locations, many of Live Nation’s venues are located in the heart of the communities that we are committed to empowering in this election and offer the same COVID protections due to their large capacity.”

Leading up to Election Day, Live Nation has also partnered with HeadCount, a non-partisan organization to use the power of music and amplify artist voices to inspire fans to register to vote and promote participation in democracy.