AUBURN | With staggering early voting numbers close to 100 million, it’s clear the turnout for the 2020 election will be historical.

It’s a day Auburn’s student-athletes started preparing for earlier this fall when they all gathered to register to vote on Sept. 19.

“That was great, man, something that (Gus) Malzahn kinda made sure everybody got to do it. That was big,” senior defensive end Big Kat Bryant said after the win over LSU. “Definitely with a lot of things this country’s got going on, I thought that was big. I’m excited for Tuesday.”

Many of Auburn’s players will have an opportunity to vote in-person Tuesday including some driving home just for the day. Others including those from out-of-state were able to send in absentee ballots over the last several weeks.

It’s an issue that’s important to the players across all sports.

“As a team, we’ve all registered to vote. It was very important for us to register to vote because our voices can be heard,” said sophomore guard Allen Flanigan.

Malzahn worked closely with his players to develop plans over the spring and summer to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and respond to the immense social justice movement.

They participated in a Black Lives Matter protest in Auburn in June, had speakers throughout the summer and fall, and played a part in launching a Together We Will initiative in September that included Unity t-shirts.

“We had the educational piece, that I’ve talked about, all summer. We had speakers and it was really good. We had some team bonding situations. And now, you know, it’s really our action plan,” Malzahn said in September. “The Unity T-shirts, which our guys were real excited about. We got great response.

“And then, action plan, register to vote. Get everybody registered to vote to use their influence. I know our team is real excited about that. That was very important last week.”

National Election Day is a big part of that action plan too.

“I felt like, with voting, that’s the right step to world changing,” said junior cornerback Roger McCreary. “So I feel like us coming together as a team to vote, that was the right step for everybody.”

The polls are open in Alabama from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT.