Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declined the Texas Rangers’ offer for him to throw out the first pitch on opening day over the league’s decision to pull the All-Star Game from Georgia.
The Rangers are set to play their home opener on Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays. The team offered Abbott the opportunity to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, which he participated in two years ago and did so virtually last year, according to the Dallas Morning News. The governor, in a letter he shared on social media, declined, citing the league’s All-Star Game decision. He added that he will not “participate in any event held by MLB.”
On Friday, MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred announced that the league would change the venue of this year’s All-Star Game from Atlanta after “thoughtful conversations” with clubs, the Players Association, and the Players Alliance regarding the election bill the Republican governor signed into law last month.
Abbott, in his letter addressed to Neil Leibman, the Rangers’ president and chief operating officer, said it’s “shameful that America’s pastime is not only being influenced by partisan political politics, but also perpetuating false political narratives.” He added that the league’s decision was based on “a false narrative” and said the state will not look to host the All-Star Game or any other MLB “special events.”
MLB TO MOVE ALL-STAR GAME AND DRAFT OUT OF GEORGIA IN VOTING LAW PROTEST
The election bill, signed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, has sparked fierce debate on both sides as it changes the way elections will be run.
Proponents of the bill, mainly Republicans who control the state Legislature and the governorship, have stood defiantly in support of the bill despite public pushback from a number of private companies. Democrats, conversely, claim the changes will disenfranchise minority voters and have said that is the bill’s underlying intent.
The bill will make numerous changes to the way elections work in the state. Some of the changes will alter the timing of runoff elections and the requirements for obtaining an absentee ballot. It will also present state officials with the authority to take over local election boards in certain circumstances, and it would make it a crime for anyone other than election workers to approach voters in line to give them food and water. The law also codified the use of drop boxes, which had only been approved for 2020 because of the coronavirus. They will now be placed in early voting locations and may only be accessed during the business hours of the voting precinct.
States across the country are considering election reform, but Democrats and Republicans stand starkly in opposition as to what that looks like.
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Republicans’ version of election reform often includes limiting absentee voting and strengthening voter identification laws, while Democrats look to do the opposite. Conservatives have argued that these changes would make it harder for fraud to occur, but Democrats claim those efforts are both unwarranted and more designed to make it harder for people to vote.
Last week, the Republican-controlled Texas Senate passed an election-reform bill that mostly focused on absentee voting. The governor has yet to sign the bill, but he is expected to do so. The bill would ban voting clerks from soliciting people to fill out applications to vote by mail, and it prohibits the state from distributing applications for mail-in voting to people who didn’t request one.
