Major League Baseball yanked its annual All-Star Game out of Georgia over the state's new election laws, but the reported new venue, Colorado, already has a voter ID requirement that critics of the Peach State measures say is racist.
Although polls show voter ID laws have broad public support, critics claim it and other aspects of Georgia's new election rules will disenfranchise black voters. Colorado, like Georgia, already requires those showing up at the polls to present ID before voting. Georgia will now require those requesting and casting absentee ballots to present ID, after previously only requiring voters to sign an application.
League commissioner Rob Manfred announced the move last week, saying 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.”
The league has not announced the replacement location as of Tuesday morning, but there have been reports that the 2021 game will be held at Coors Field in Denver, the home of the Colorado Rockies.
MLB TO MOVE ALL-STAR GAME AND DRAFT OUT OF GEORGIA IN VOTING LAW PROTEST
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.
In addition to the new ID law, the bill Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed will make numerous other 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 given the coronavirus, but they will be placed in early-voting locations and can only be accessed during the business hours of the voting precinct.
Colorado is a “mail ballot” state, meaning that ahead of each election, state officials mail ballots to each registered and active voter, according to Colorado Public Radio. In 2020, those ballots were sent out in early October, and drop boxes opened on Oct. 19. Voters then had until Oct. 26 to mail them back, or they could have dropped them off at any of the 350 drop boxes available around the state. Additionally, in Colorado, there is same-day voter registration, meaning a person can register to vote and vote on Election Day.
Conservatives in the Democrat-controlled Colorado State Legislature have tried to promote similar bills to the one Kemp signed. But all five of the election-related bills were rejected last month.
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The bills, in totality, would have made it a requirement for an elector to show proof of citizenship, would require the state auditor to conduct an annual audit of at least 20% of the active registered electors, would allow for any registered elector to request a recount when one isn’t done otherwise, and would have created an information technology and infrastructure advisement committee on Colorado elections and a 5-member bipartisan election commission within the Department of State.
“Across the nation, we are seeing a tsunami of legislation to suppress voters and spread the big lie about the 2020 election,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said in a statement about the bills. “Although Colorado is considered the nation’s gold standard for elections, there have been bills introduced to undermine confidence and suppress the votes of Coloradans. I applaud the legislators who rejected these types of election-related bills today. We must keep Colorado’s nationally renowned elections safe, secure, and accessible, and ensure that all eligible voters can have their voices heard.”
