After ditching Atlanta in protest over a new voter integrity law which requires voters to present identification if they wish to vote absentee, Major League Baseball decided to move its All-Star game to Colorado, a state that also requires voter ID.
In order to register to vote in Colorado, voters are required by law to present some form of government issued identification. The only exception to that rule is a current “utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the elector,” with “current” defined as issued within the previous 60 days before registering to vote.
Major League Baseball’s Player Alliance insinuated that Georgia’s voter ID law was racist in a recent statement.
“We want to make our voice heard loud and clear in our opposition of the recent Georgia legislation that not only disproportionately disenfranchises the Black community, but also paves the way for other states to pass similarly harmful laws based largely on widespread falsehoods and disinformation,” the group said.
But Georgia-based Jobs Creators Network CEO Alfredo Ortiz joined “Fox & Friends” Monday morning to discuss how moving the All-Star game from Atlanta, which is set to cost Cobb County an estimated $100 million in revenue, will hurt minority-owned small businesses.
“These small business owners, especially in Cobb – I mean, a lot of these are minority owned businesses – who were looking forward and desperately needed this kind of revenue,” he said. “And all because, quite frankly, there was a misinterpretation or a misunderstanding or quite frankly just an outright lie of the law that was passed here in Georgia on voting rights.”
Further spinning itself into a web of hypocrisy, at least some Major League Baseball teams have an official policy requiring spectators to present photo identification to pick up tickets at Will Call.
The official page for the Atlanta Braves on Major League Baseball’s website, for example, says the following:
- Group and hospitality tickets left at Will Call will be held under one person’s name, and that person will need a picture ID to pick up their tickets. Unfortunately, we cannot leave tickets under a company name or with a guest list.
- If you are dropping off tickets at Will Call, the tickets need to be left in the specific envelopes provided at the Will Call windows. The Will Call envelope will need to be completely filled out, and your guest(s) picking up the tickets will need a picture ID that matches the name on the Will Call envelope.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
