MLB PROTESTS AND MOVES ALL-STAR GAME OUT OF ATL

MLB PROTESTS AND MOVES ALL-STAR GAME OUT OF ATL

Major League Baseball moved this year’s All-Star Game out of Atlanta to protest Georgia’s new restrictive voting law. The game was set to take place at Truist Park on July 13 anticipated to bring in a ton of revenue for the state.

“I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft,” Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. said in a statement. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”

Democrats and other voting rights leaders are outrage by this is modern-day voter suppression. The restrictions put into place aim to make it difficult for minorities and people from poor communities to vote. Major corporations like Coca-Cola and Delta released statements against the bill with President Biden’s full support.

Last Tuesday, Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an Administrative order directing the City’s Chief Equity Officer to take numerous actions to diminish the new voting restrictions. These actions will ensure every Atlanta resident can exercise their right to vote.

“The voting restrictions of SB 202 will disproportionately impact Atlanta residents—particularly in communities of color and other minority groups,” Bottoms said in a statement. “This Administrative Order is designed to do what those in the majority of the state legislature did not—expand access to our right to vote.”

The bill makes significant changes to the way the state will run elections moving forward. It adds an ID requirement for absentee voting and limits the use of drop boxes with strict rules on how they can be used. It also gives more control of local elections to state lawmakers who are majority republican.