Major League Baseball has moved the game from the state as a response to the states passage of legislation aimed at voter suppression…
The response against the state’s lawmakers move has been swift and mounting from several places….The MIB has been the most direct..
Major League Baseball (MLB) announced Friday that it is pulling its All-Star Game for the 2021 season out of Georgia in protest of the state’s new voting restrictions signed into law last month.
Rob Manfred, the MLB commissioner, said in a statement the decision was made after conversations with teams and players and that moving the July 13 game out of the Peach State is “the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport.” The MLB draft will also be moved out of Georgia.
“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” Manfred said.
Georgia and Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp, face mounting backlash over the elections reform law, which Democrats call a veiled attempt at voter suppression.
“Sadly, Republicans in my home state have outperformed in the category of suppressive laws with the passage of Senate Bill 202,” voting rights activist and former state Rep. Stacey Abrams (D) wrote in an op-ed this week.
The measure, among other restrictions, puts limits on ballot drop boxes and when they can be used, minimizes the period in which a Georgia resident can apply for a mail-in ballot, institutes photo ID requirements for absentee voting and bans giving out food or drink within 150 feet of polling places, including to those waiting in line to vote.
The GOP-backed law came after Biden flipped the state blue in the 2020 election, which was followed by Democrats capturing both of the state’s Senate seats in January runoff elections.
Prominent groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights and New Georgia Project have all filed lawsuits against the package, which President Biden recently called “Jim Crow on steroids.”
Multiple private sector firms, including several based in Georgia, have voiced criticism of the new law, though none have yet gone as far as the MLB in moving their businesses or major events….
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“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
Read that sentence again. What American, regardless of political party or race or creed or religion — left or right, Black or White, Christian or Jew, vegan or carnivore, Yankees or Red Sox — can disagree with that? We are a democracy. Decisions in a democracy are made by the will of the people. Not some of the people. All of the people. This didn’t used to be a point of contention, and that’s not some woke mob point of view. It’s just American….
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There is precedent here. In 1990, Arizona voters shot down a ballot initiative that would have established Martin Luther King Jr. Day as an official holiday. In March 1991, the NFL’s owners voted to move Super Bowl XXVII, set for January 1993, from the state.
And lo and behold, what happened? In 1992, Arizonans recognized the holiday. And the state now hosts Super Bowls.
In 2017, the NBA moved its All-Star Game out of Charlotte because of HB2, a law that barred local governments from extending civil rights protections to gay and transgender people. After the state repealed portions of that law, the league awarded Charlotte the game in 2019.
Atlanta will get an All-Star Game once Georgians put into office people who believe in the idea that each American deserves a vote. This isn’t partisan. It’s democratic….
Nate Cohen on the complexities of the Georgia voter suppression law’s results …
Why Georgia’s Election Law Might Not Impact Turnout
Nate Cohn: “Democrats are understandably concerned about a provision that empowers the Republican-controlled State Legislature to play a larger role in election administration. That provision has uncertain but potentially substantial effects, depending on what the Legislature might do in the future. And it’s possible the law is intended to do exactly what progressives fear: reshape the electorate to the advantage of Republicans, soon after an electoral defeat, by making it harder to vote.”
“And yet the law’s voting provisions are unlikely to significantly affect turnout or Democratic chances. It could plausibly even increase turnout. In the final account, it will probably be hard to say whether it had any effect on turnout at all.”
“If we don’t do something about voting by mail,we are going to lose the ability to elect a Republican in this country.”
Lindsay Graham
Yep. Republicans view restricting voting as the only way to win elections.
Appealing to the blocks of voters who tune them out isn’t even an option. Doing that will piss off the Q caucus in the GOP.
Former President Obama praised MLB after it pulled its All-Star Game from Georgia in protest of the state’s new voting restrictions.
“Congratulations to @MLB for taking a stand on behalf of voting rights for all citizens. There’s no better way for America’s pastime to honor the great Hank Aaron, who always led by example,” Obama tweeted Saturday…
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Tell it to the Judge….
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) fiercely defended his state’s new voting law after the MLB said it was pulling its All-Star Game out of Atlanta, saying the new restrictions were “worth” boycotts and lawsuits against the Peach State.
“Free and fair elections are the foundation of who we are as a state and a nation. Secure, accessible, fair elections are worth the threats. They are worth the boycotts as well as the lawsuits,” Kemp said at a press conference Saturday.
“I want to be clear: I will not be backing down from this fight, and neither are the people who are here with me today,” he added….
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Opinion: The gutless Atlanta Braves put themselves on the wrong side of history
Mike Freeman
USA TODAY
If you want to know what courage looks like, look at Major League Baseball right now. They saw the naked, jingoistic racism of voter suppression in Georgia, and in response, decided to move this year’s All-Star game from the state.
“I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Friday, “is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft.”
That’s what guts look like.
If you want to know what total capitulation looks like, what cowardice looks like, what the wrong side of history looks like, what running scared looks like, what you will use as an example to your kids of how not to act, look no further than the Atlanta Braves.
After baseball released its statement, the Braves released theirs, and I’m surprised they were able to use a laptop with their fingers shaking so much from fear of the voting suppression extremists.
“This was neither our decision, nor our recommendation and we are saddened that fans will not be able to see this event in our city,” the statement said. “The Braves organization will continue to stress the importance of equal voting opportunities and we had hoped our city could use this event as a platform to enhance the discussion. Our city has always been known as a uniter in divided times and we will miss the opportunity to address issues that are important to our community. Unfortunately, businesses, employees, and fans in Georgia are the victims of this decision.”
This isn’t just tone deaf. Look up tone deaf in the dictionary and there are the Braves smoking a cigarette….
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/mike-freeman/2021/04/02/mlb-all-star-game-gutless-atlanta-braves-wrong-side-history/7067679002/
I would prefer to see boycotts of businesses in the parts of the state that had legislators support the voter suppression. Why pick on Atlanta?
All-Star game Update….
Major League Baseball plans to relocate the All-Star Game to Coors Field in Denver after pulling this year’s Midsummer Classic from Atlanta over objections to sweeping changes to Georgia’s voting laws, according to a person familiar with the decision….
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