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“Atlanta lost Major League Baseball’s summer All-Star Game on Friday over the league’s objections to sweeping changes to Georgia voting laws that critics — including the CEOs of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola — have condemned as being too restrictive… The White House said President Joe Biden supports the decision… A new ballpark for the events wasn’t immediately revealed.” AP News
Read the full text of the Georgia law here. Georgia General Assembly
Read our prior coverage of the merits of the law here. The Flip Side
Here’s also some details on how Georgia’s law compares to other states. Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The left accuses corporations of trying to have it both ways, and is divided about the efficacy of these boycotts.
“As Judd Legum of Popular Information reported earlier this month, major corporations were prolific donors to the Republican lawmakers who supported, sponsored, and passed S.B. 202 into law… In addition to Delta’s support of local legislators who turned S.B. 202 into law and the company’s refusal to commit to divesting from those candidates in the future, Delta has [also] spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting national politicians who have opposed voting rights action in Congress…
“In the past two years, 33 of 41 of Delta’s Senate donations went to Republicans, including to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been adamant in his opposition to federal voting rights legislation. Delta’s support of Republicans who oppose voting rights also includes $10,000 a piece to Reps. Buddy Carter, Drew Ferguson, Jody Hice, and Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, all of whom voted against the bill that is now the John Lewis Act when it was up in 2019.”
Jeremy Stahl, Slate
“We’re left then with a peculiar form of oligarchy, where companies simulate genuine public concern—after bad laws are passed—while continuing to fund some of the very politicians pushing destructive policies. When these monetary relationships are discovered, companies either promise to do better or to alter policy to be more in line with their values, but invariably, it seems, the money continues to flow, if not directly to politicians’ coffers, then to PACs and other organizations allied with them… liberals can’t get complacent by deputizing CEOs as their political representatives.”
Jacob Silverman, New Republic
“Though Georgia’s new law did not embrace the most draconian proposals of some of its Republican legislators—and there are actually bright spots, such as expanded early voting days, including some weekends— the cluster of new rules and tougher ID requirements are aimed at one goal: making it harder for likely Democratic voters to exercise their franchise. What’s worse is that the legislature has effectively given itself the power to overrule local and county officials, and in effect decide for itself who has won…
“[But] If Major League Baseball was truly worried about protecting the ability to vote in Georgia… there was a much, much better way to act… Consider this alternative: The All-Star Game stays in Georgia. But the event—a three-day affair—is built around a multi-front campaign to address the restrictions imposed by the new law. None of it would need to be framed as partisan. It would be purely pro-voting, pro-democracy—an equal-opportunity push to be sure the good old-fashioned American election process worked.”
Jeff Greenfield, Politico
“Corporations eager to prove their good faith can do so by putting their resources to good use. Rather than financing state legislators pushing these anti-democratic bills, refuse to fund their efforts. Instead, use those earmarked campaign dollars to support projects that help the poor, the elderly, students and the isolated get the identification they need to cast their ballots in 2022…
“In Georgia, for example, at least 200,000 people do not have the required restrictive photo ID. The so-called free ID offered in Georgia and other states is not free when the hours to access it are limited, transportation is difficult and the documents necessary are hard to locate, too expensive or unavailable… Leaving us behind won’t save us. So I ask you to bring your business to Georgia and, if you’re already here, stay and fight. Stay and vote.”
Stacey Abrams, USA Today
Others argue that “The initial response in Georgia both from Governor Brian Kemp and key legislators was to push back… But the truth is, the companies hold the cards. Think back to North Carolina. Once there was a concerted effort to hurt the state economically with a boycott — which cost the state an estimated $3.76 billion, according to the Associated Press — the legislature backed down. If companies stick to their guns, Georgia is likely to back down as well. No state wants to be a corporate pariah. And no state wants to leave billions on the table if it can avoid it.”
Joe Nocera, Bloomberg
“MLB is choosing to play on the right side of history this year by relocating both the game and the July amateur draft because Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, signed a bill that experts all agree would make it harder for people of color to vote — just because they tend to vote for Democrats… Given Major League Baseball’s history, it comes as a pleasant surprise to see the league take such a principled stand.”
Cecil Harris, NBC News
The right accuses Major League Baseball of hypocrisy and notes that many other states have laws more restrictive than Georgia.
The right accuses Major League Baseball of hypocrisy and notes that many other states have laws more restrictive than Georgia.
“Apparently, expanding voting opportunities in Georgia is boycott-worthy, but China’s genocide against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang is not such a big deal. China hosts the 2022 Winter Olympics, and Biden remains unable even to threaten a boycott over human rights…
“There’s money to be made in the Chinese market for Apple, Coca-Cola, Delta, and MLB… It’s easier to attack Republicans than it is to confront the world’s worst human rights abusers…
“[But] There is no excuse for this. Even the Washington Post said in its fact-check of Biden that Georgia’s law will expand voting opportunities [for most Georgians]. Demanding that a U.S. state be punished while dismissing, excusing, or pandering to China is placing partisan politics above human rights — done by some of the most powerful and influential people and corporations in the United States.”
Zachary Faria, Washington Examiner
“Perhaps Mr. Biden can compare the voting rules in Georgia to those in the re-education camps in Xinjiang province. His own Secretary of State says China is committing genocide against the Uighurs. He could send Rob Manfred as an emissary to investigate, since the MLB commissioner is trying to expand his league’s business in China even as it boycotts an American state.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“MLB had no problem a few years ago forging an agreement with the Chinese tech company, Tencent, to stream its games in China, where early-voting hours are famously restrictive. It’s been happy to have a cooperative relationship with Cuba, where ballot drop boxes are not nearly as available as one would hope. It allows the Yankees and Mets to play in New York, and makes its headquarters there, when New York doesn’t have no-excuse absentee voting and Georgia does, it offers fewer days of early voting than Georgia, and it has its own law against giving food and drink to voters…
“Perversely, MLB’s decision will hurt the very people the league is purporting to support. The game was going to bring economic activity to Atlanta, which is a majority-black city. It would have meant money for hotel and restaurant employees, hot-dog and T-shirt vendors, and other shift workers. The Atlanta Braves, in an unusual show of disagreement with the league office, pronounced themselves ‘deeply disappointed’ that ‘businesses, employees, and fans in Georgia are the victims of this decision.’”
The Editors, National Review
“In 2005, Republicans in Georgia’s state legislature enacted no-excuse absentee voting under state law, in the face of objections from Georgia’s Democrats, who contended voting by that method would ‘open the door wide to opportunities for voter fraud.’… Sixteen states do not have no-excuse absentee voting: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia…
“It is not hard to find baseball fans contending the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game should be moved to Yankee Stadium, Citi Field in New York City, Fenway Park in Boston, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, or Minute Maid Park in Houston. If the MLB chose any of those stadiums, it would, in the name of standing up for voting rights, move the game from a state that allows no-excuse absentee voting to a state that does not allow no-excuse absentee ballot voting.”
Jim Geraghty, National Review
Some posit that “Even when they’re right to be angry, I disdain legislators threatening businesses for their politics. If McConnell wants to take away Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption or raise corporate taxes to make sure companies pay their ‘fair share,’ why does he need some cultural grievance to spur him to do it? Do it because it’s good economics. And if he doesn’t believe it’s good economics, why would he let a cultural grievance entice him into doing needless economic damage to some sector?…
“Ironically, I think the Republican politician who’s best handled the aftermath of MLB pulling the All-Star Game out of Georgia is Trump. He didn’t call for legislative action or make any policy threats; he called for a grassroots boycott of Major League Baseball by Republican voters… That’s the way to do this. Set economic policy at the federal level according to whatever will encourage growth and punish the woke behemoths by encouraging righties to organize and throw their weight around as consumers.”
Allahpundit, Hot Air
