I don’t like bullies.
Last week, Georgia governor Brian Kemp signed a new voting bill into law in his state. President Biden was critical and called of the law. As CNBC summarizes the new law, it would “dd new ID requirements to absentee voting, limit ballot drop boxes and prohibit offering food or water to voters in line, among other provisions.”
President Biden called this “Jim Crow for the 21st century.”
In response, several companies such as Coca Cola, Delta, and Apple opposed the law.
But it was Major League Baseball who really cracked down. The MLB All Star game was set to be played in Atlanta later this summer. In response to the bill, the MLB pulled the game.
Baseball’s commissioner Rob Manfred issued a statement in response where he 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 MLB Draft. Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
How is this voting law restricting anyone’s vote? Sincere question.
Last month, Vox (a liberal news outlet) ran a story with the headline “A major study finding that voter ID laws hurt minorities isn’t standing up well under scrutiny.”
From the Vox article: “It was supposed to be the study that proved voter ID laws are not just discriminatory but can also have a big impact on elections. And it was picked up widely, with outlets including ThinkProgress and the Washington Post reporting that the study found voter ID laws hurt Hispanic voters in particular and skewed elections to the right. “
To be fair to the article, it also says that debunked studies don’t prove that there’s no impact of voter ID on elections. But people like the president, these corporations, and many others on the far left act like it’s inherently racist to want people to validate who they are so they can vote.
I’m not saying last year’s election was stolen. But states do have a right to take reasonable steps to ensure fair elections. There’s nothing restrictive about Georgia’s voting laws. There’s nothing unprecedented about Georgia’s new law.
Voter ID has become a sort of catch-all in the public discourse of these laws. Here are a few important facts. Most states require some form of identification to vote. Georgia already required voter identification to vote in person. Georgia (as well as many other states) will provide a government issued ID to someone at no cost if someone can’t afford one. And while we’re on the subject of ID, you need an ID to do a host of other things in our society. You need an ID to drive, to work, to fly, to buy certain over the counter cold medicines, and a host of other activities. Many in the political arena and the media want every American to be forced to have a Covid vaccine, but expecting someone to prove who they are in order to vote is unacceptable?
Georgia did move up their date to request an absentee ballot. They’re now one of 11 states which requires a person to request an absentee ballot more than a week prior to the election. Oh, the humanity!
On absentee ballots, Georgia will be one of four states which asks a person to list their ID number. Two other states require a person to submit a form of ID, and three states require absentee ballots to be notarized (which would presumably also require an ID).
President Biden mentioned Georgia disallowing a person receiving water while in line to vote. That’s not entirely true. The spirit of that law is aimed at campaigning within the polling location.
The Georgia law does allow for “self-service” water in polling places.
All of this was unacceptable to Major League Baseball.
The city is estimating a $100 million loss from missing out on the All Star game. This isn’t the first time that a professional sports league as punished a city over politics. In 2016, the NBA moved the 2017 all star game from Charlotte due to a North Carolina law which, among other things, restricted transgender people from using bathrooms which went against their biological sex.
Part of why a lot of people like sports is because it gives us a break from politics.
As I said in the beginning, I don’t like bullies. And I don’t like billion dollar corporations ganging up on states to punish them for their legally passed legislation.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!
Josh Benner 