Major League Baseball has retreated from its wokeness. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Thursday that the All-Star Game will return to Atlanta’s Truist Field in 2025, even though a 2021 election-integrity law that outraged liberals remains in effect.
Among those who welcomed the decision was Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
On X (formerly Twitter), DeSantis posted, “When Georgia passed a strong election integrity law in 2021, the MLB caved to far-left extremists and [President] Joe Biden’s lies by canceling the All-Star Game in Atlanta. But today [Georgia Republican Gov.} @BrianKempGA was proven right for not backing down and the truth won!”
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The “truth,” as DeSantis indicated, was that a strong election-integrity would not adversely affect voter turnout, especially among black Georgia residents.
Manfred stirred controversy in 2021 after the state enacted the Election Integrity Act. The new law, according to Fox News, added new restrictions on voting by mail, mandated voter ID requirements and limited the use of ballot drop boxes. It also established two Saturdays of early voting before general elections, which was up from just one, and provided two Sundays as optional days.
In the moment, however, Manfred surrendered to the rhetoric of leftists such as Biden, NBA legend LeBron James, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and race hustler Al Sharpton, all of whom claimed the law was racist and that Georgia needed to be punished. Biden, for instance, labeled the law “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Manfred moved the 2021 All-Star Game to Denver. He also said that while Atlanta would “certainly be an option [to host the game] at some point in the future,” but that could only be done after Georgia implemented some unspecified change that the commissioner would approve of.
As it turned out, Georgia stood its ground, and the liberals were wrong.
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The Valdosta Daily Times reported last May that Georgia’s voter turnout in 2022, while the law was still very much in effect, broke state records.
“An estimated 82.0% of the state’s registered voters voted in elections in 2022 — the highest turnout in the South and among the 15th highest in the nation,” the Daily Times reported.
“The state’s 2022 midterm election and runoff saw record-breaking turnout for a midterm election, record-breaking midterm early voting turnout and record-breaking absentee-by-mail notes cast in a midterm. … Approximately 60% of white voters, 54% of Black voters, 51% of Asians and 43% of Hispanic voters cast a ballot in the November 2022 general election.”
Liberals tried to claim that black voters turned out in spite of the new law.
Yet a University of Georgia study found that 0% of black respondents rated their 2022 voting experience as “poor.”
That compared to 96.2% of black voters who graded their experience as “excellent” or “good,” and 91.6% who said their trip to the polls was easier or no different than in 2020, before the law took effect.
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On Thursday, without explaining what had changed, Manfred said Atlanta “deserved” this opportunity.
“As a model of success on and off the field, the [Atlanta] Braves deserve to host the All-Star Game. Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta will provide fans a world-class experience in 2025. We look forward to working with the Braves and local leaders to deliver a memorable All-Star Week that brings people together and benefits the community in many ways,” said Manfred.
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