What Dabo Swinney, Shane Beamer said about players voting in presidential election
Dabo Swinney and Shane Beamer may be rival coaches, but the leaders of the Clemson and South Carolina football teams can agree on one thing this fall:
The importance of voting.
As the No. 11 Tigers and the Gamecocks both enter the stretch runs of their 2024 seasons, Swinney and Beamer said during their weekly news conferences Tuesday that their programs have been proactive in helping players get registered and vote in 2024 presidential election cycle, whether it’s early, by mail or on Election Day.
Election Day (Nov. 5) is a week from Tuesday.
Swinney said that staffers within the Tigers’ P.A.W. Journey program, which focuses on off-field development, have taken the lead on assisting the over 130 players on Clemson’s roster with registration and voting.
“They do a good job with that as far as bringing people in to speak and getting everybody registered,” Swinney said ahead of Clemson’s home game against Louisville on Saturday night, adding that players get “accountability points” in the program’s in-house rewards program if they registered to vote.
Beamer, whose USC team hosts No. 10 Texas A&M on Saturday night, said his program has also encouraged the roster to “get out and do their civic duty.”
“We have Vanderbilt next week and we’ll be focused on that one but the great thing with our schedule is we’re done on Tuesday by 12 noon with the players and they have the whole day outside of academic obligations,” Beamer said Tuesday. “We’re here to help support that process as much as we can.”
A poll from CNN last week said there’s “no clear leader” among the two most prominent names on the presidential ticket and Democratic nominee and current vice president Kamala Harris and Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump are “neck and neck” at around 47% of the vote apiece as of last Friday.
“It’s a really good education process to try to make sure they understand how important it is,” Swinney said. “And then how to do early voting and all that type of stuff. So it’s something they (P.A.W. Journey) do a good job with.”
Swinney added during his Monday night radio show that voting is part of P.A.W. Journey’s “civic engagement” initiative for players on the roster.
“They’ve all either had opportunities to vote (early) or mail in or whatever they want to do,” Swinney said. “Certainly have made that a priority.”
Beamer said that the players on USC’s 117-man roster have experienced multiple meetings and guest speakers on the topic of voting this year.
“I don’’t try and get into it too much, obviously, from a political standpoint,” Beamer said. “But there’s some things that we did certainly over the summer and the NCAA kinda oversees some things as well.”
Early voting in the state of South Carolina started Monday, Oct. 21 and will continue through this Saturday.
Over the first six days of early voting in the state, nearly a quarter of a million South Carolinians cast their votes for president and other state and local offices, including the U.S. House of Representatives and state Senate.
Among those early voters: Beamer and his wife, Emily. South Carolina’s coach said they voted last week at an on-campus early voting site during the Gamecocks’ off week and it was a “simple” process.
“So I encourage everyone to get out and vote as well,” said Beamer, who posted a photo of his SC “I Voted” sticker to X (formerly Twitter) after voting last Tuesday.
Did Swinney vote early, or does he plan to?
“No, I don’t even know how to do that,” Swinney said Tuesday. “I’ll go vote (next) Tuesday. Fortunately, we live here in Clemson, South Carolina, so it’s not too taxing of a process. I don’t even know where I’m supposed to go, but (my wife Kathleen) will tell me. So I’ll get that done some time during the day.”
Clemson (6-1, 5-0 ACC) hosts Louisville (5-3, 3-2 ACC) on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium (7:30 p.m., ESPN). The Tigers are currently a 10.5-point betting favorite.
South Carolina (4-3, 2-3 SEC) hosts the No. 10 Aggies (7-1, 5-0) at Williams-Brice Stadium (7:30 p.m., ABC). The Gamecocks are a 2.5-point home underdog.
Jordan Kaye contributed reporting.
This story was originally published October 29, 2024 at 12:59 PM.
