The move served as a warning to Republicans in other states who are trying to restrict voting, and is likely to put new pressure on other organizations and corporations to consider pulling business out of Georgia.
Major League Baseball sent a warning shot on Friday to Republicans considering new laws to restrict voting, pulling its summer All-Star game out of suburban Atlanta in a rebuke to Georgia’s new election rules that will make it harder to vote in the state’s urban areas. The announcement by the baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred, came after days of lobbying from civil rights groups and discussions with stakeholders like the Major League Baseball Players Association. The action is likely to put additional pressure on other organizations and corporations to consider pulling business out of Georgia, a move that both Republicans and Democrats in the state oppose despite fiercely disagreeing about the new voting law. The league’s decision comes as other states are moving closer to passing new laws that would further restrict voting. In Texas, the State Senate passed a bill this week that would limit early voting hours, ban drive-through voting, add restrictions to absentee voting, and make it illegal for local election officials to mail absentee ballot applications to voters, even if they qualify. In Florida, the State Legislature has introduced a bill that would severely limit drop boxes. A fight is now intensifying over the Texas bill: American Airlines and Dell Technologies this week voiced their opposition to the legislation, taking stands that major companies in Georgia like Delta and Coca-Cola declined to do until after the law there was passed. Michael Dell, the chief executive of the Texas-based company that bears his name, said on Thursday that “free, fair, equitable access to voting is the foundation of American democracy” and noted that “those rights — especially for women, communities of color — have been hard-earned.” Republicans have shrugged off that criticism so far. Mr. Manfred’s decision to move the All-Star Game goes far beyond what any other leading American institution has done so far to take a stand against new voting restrictions, and his strongly worded announcement was striking for a league with owners who span the political spectrum. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” Mr. Manfred said in a statement. “Fair access to voting continues to have our unwavering support.” The law in Georgia, signed last week by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, was the first major bill of voting restrictions to be passed in a battleground state since the 2020 election. It added new identification requirements for absentee voting, limited the use of drop boxes, granted more authority over elections to the legislature and made it a misdemeanor for groups to offer food or water to voters waiting in line near polling places. This week, President Biden joined a growing call for the relocation of the game because of the voting law, which he and civil rights groups predicted would have an outsize impact on people of color. The league said it was finalizing details about new locations for this year’s All-Star Game, which was scheduled for July 13, and the draft.
