SAN FRANCISCO (KRON/AP) — The MLB is moving its All-Star game and Draft out of Georgia due to a new state voting law.
People say the law unfairly limits access to the ballot box, especially for people of color.
The game was set for July 13 at Truist Park, the Braves’ 41,000-seat stadium in suburban Cobb County. It would be the third time Atlanta serves as host, having previously held the event in 1972 and 2000.
“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” a statement released Friday said.
“I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and Draft,” Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred Jr. said.
Biden had told ESPN he would “strongly support” pulling the game out of Atlanta because of a law he described as “Jim Crow on steroids.”
The Republican-controlled Georgia legislature approved a sweeping new law that would, among other things, place new ID requirements on absentee voting by mail and prohibit handing out food and water to voters standing in line.
Supporters of the law have said it merely ensures election integrity and stamps out potential fraud. Others have said the motives are more sinister after an election that registered nearly 5 million votes with no credible evidence of serious wrongdoing.