MLB announced that the 2021 All-Star Game will take place in Colorado after deciding to pull the game from Georgia, its originally selected host.
Tuesday’s announcement came less than a week after MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred revealed the location change, citing the election-changing bill Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed. In withdrawing from Atlanta, the commissioner said the league “fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” adding, “Fair access to voting continues to have our game’s unwavering support.”
“Major League Baseball is grateful to the Rockies, the City of Denver and the State of Colorado for their support of this summer’s All-Star Game,” Manfred said in a statement. “We appreciate their flexibility and enthusiasm to deliver a first-class event for our game and the region. We look forward to celebrating our sport’s best players and entertaining fans around the world.”
The game will now be held at Coors Field in Denver, home to the Colorado Rockies.
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“We are excited to host this year’s All-Star festivities at Coors Field,” Rockies Chief Operating Officer Greg Feasel said in a statement. “We are confidence that our organization along with the city, state, VISIT DENVER and the Denver Sports Commission are capable of putting on this premier event in a relatively quick time frame because of the preparations that had already been done. Summer in Colorado is something everyone in the country should experience, and we embrace this opportunity to show off our beautiful ballpark and everything our city, state and region have to offer.”
Colorado and Georgia have differing voting laws, and many critics of MLB’s decision have highlighted ways Colorado’s voting laws are more strict than what will be implemented in Georgia. Voter ID laws have long been a point of contention between Republicans, who say they help prevent fraud, and Democrats, who say they are used to suppress the minority vote.
While polls show that voter ID laws have broad public support, critics claim that the underlying intent is to prevent those without government-issued IDs from voting, thus disenfranchising them. Colorado, similar to Georgia, already requires those showing up at the polls to present IDs before voting, but the Peach State will now require those requesting and casting absentee ballots to present an ID. Previously, the state relied upon signature verification.
Colorado is one of a handful of “mail ballot” states, meaning that prior to each election, state officials send mail ballots to each registered and active voter, according to Colorado Public Radio. In 2020, ballots were sent out in early October, given voters until Oct. 26 to mail them back. They also could drop them off at any of the 350 drop boxes available around the state.
In the Centennial State, there is also same-day voter registration, meaning a person can both register and vote on Election Day.
Conservatives in the Democratic-controlled Colorado General Assembly have tried to promote similar bills to the one Kemp signed. However, all five of the election-related bills were rejected last month.
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In addition to the new ID law, the Georgia bill will make other changes, including altering the timing of runoff elections. The bill will also present state officials with the authority to take over local election boards in certain circumstances and would make it a crime for anyone other than election workers to approach voters in line to give them food and water. The law codified the use of drop boxes, which had only been approved for 2020 because of the coronavirus, but they will be placed in early voting locations and may only be accessed during the business hours of the voting precinct.
