With election day looming on Tuesday, Lorenzo Neal has a message for all people.

“Please go vote,” the massive Purdue nose tackle said. “It's really important, and I know people feel some type of way about it and some people are not here nor there. But no matter what decision you make, I think it's really important for everybody to vote, you know, contribute to this republic we live in.”

Tuesday is election day 2020, the day millions of Americans will cast ballots on a number of candidates and initiatives across the nation. Back in the summer, the NCAA urged schools to give their student-athletes election day off so they could vote. And Purdue is doing just that.

“I think it's super important, no matter who you vote for,” said Purdue fifth-year senior kicker J.D. Dellinger. “I think it's really important that you need to go out there and have your voice heard, and I appreciate the steps that other student-athletes at this school and student-athletes around the country are taking to give us the opportunity to go vote.”

Neal already has voted, casting an absentee ballot as a resident of Houston. Voting is a right Neal cherishes.

“I think it's important, just because it's one of the foundations of our country,” the fifth-year senior said. “And that opportunity to choose ---and I know some people feel differently about it -- but that opportunity to choose who leads this country I think is really important.”

Time demands often make it difficult for student-athletes to get out and vote on the first Tuesday in November.

“I know young people haven't always had the best turnout, and to be honest, it is really difficult to vote in this country,” said Neal. “It's extremely difficult. So, a lot of young people don't really want to go through those hoops to have to do that. And I think it's all about teaching, moving forward, how important that is and how as individuals, we form a collective which elects leader and that's just an important process in our country.”

Purdue is one of many schools across the nation that is making sure its athletes are free of sporting activities on Tuesday so they can be part of the political process that will see America elect a president. The message: Go vote.

“During the fall, we're super busy and the reality is we probably normally don't have time,” said Dellinger. “But the steps that people are taking for us to have the opportunity to vote are super important and really a good thing. I appreciated the opportunity to do that this year.”

Purdue athletics in September through collaboration with athletics administration, head coaches and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), required no athletic activities will be conducted on Nov. 3 for the general election.

"Well, most of our guys actually have voted," said Jeff Brohm, "but Coach (Sean) Pugh, our director of player development, we have a time set aside late morning to take some guys over there that haven't, and anybody else that can't go then, we'll provide an opportunity to escort them over there, as well, if need be.

"It's an important issue. It's an important year. We want all of our guys to get the opportunity to vote."

The Big Ten also began a voter registration initiative back in June. Mackey Arena will serve as a vote center for the upcoming general election.

"We recognize that there is no greater civic responsibility and no better way to make your voice heard than by casting your vote," Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski said in a statement in September.

"The decision to suspend activities on Nov. 3 was made in an effort to remove any barriers that might prevent our student-athletes or staff from making it to the polls and participating in this important part of our democratic process. I'm proud of our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for bringing this initiative forward and for their commitment to making a difference.”

Added Peyton Stovall, Purdue assistant athletics director for student-athlete development. “With support from our athletics director Mike Bobinski and through collaboration with the Big Ten and the Big Ten Voting Committee, we have been able to educate our student-athletes about the importance of exercising your right to vote. Having Nov. 3 as an off day further demonstrates Purdue Athletics' commitment to the holistic growth of our student-athletes."

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Social awareness/responsibility hasn’t been limited to voting. Back in June, fifth-year senior safety Simeon Smiley helped organize a march of more than 20 football players and staff members from the team’s Kozuch Football Performance Facility to the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. The march was in honor George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.

“I think it's very important to bring awareness to certain situations and things going on,” said Smiley. “I think we just do that by showing that we're together, unity.”

Like voting, social justice is a cause close to Neal.

“We like to have conversations as a group about different backgrounds and where we all come from, and a better understanding of how we see America to us, cause we all have different interpretations of it,” Neal said. “And we’ve all been treated differently throughout our times growing up.

“So, it’s really important for me to talk to my teammates about that kind of thing, and social justice initiatives, ‘cause I think that’s really important going forward. Like I said, I want my kids to grow up in a world where we’re all equal, and we don’t have to be judged by the color of our skin or anything like that.”

One way to be heard, one way to enact change in society: Voting.

“Everyone has been pushing to vote,” said Smiley earlier this fall. “Everybody here has been getting text messages to register, e-mails. And there's a lot of different places on campus that give us opportunity for the last couple of months to register and get ready to vote.”

Now, that day to vote looms.

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