The Republican National Committee (RNC) released a television ad during Tuesday night’s All-Star Game and told Atlanta residents that Democrats stole the game from their city, all to push a divisive political agenda.
The ad features former Georgia State Rep. Melvin Everson. Everson, according to Ballotpedia, is a Republican who served in the legislature from 2005 to 2011.
“This was supposed to be Atlanta’s night. But we were robbed. Democrats stole our All-Star Game to push their divisive political agenda. Politicians and corporations lie,” Everson said.
“Black communities got hurt the most, even though a majority of black voters support laws like voter ID. To Democrats, it’s just a game. But we are the ones who got played.”
Executives with Major League Baseball (MLB), incensed over Georgia’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202, pulled the All-Star Game out of Atlanta and moved it to Colorado. The move cost Atlanta more than $100 million in revenue, according to RNC officials, in an emailed press release.
RNC officials said in a press release that Colorado’s voting laws are more restrictive than Georgia’s. They also said that, per a poll of theirs’, more than 80 percent of all voters say verifying voter ID is an important security measure. Exactly 87 percent of voters, according to the RNC poll, oppose ballot harvesting. The RNC poll also said 71 percent of voters believe officials should not accept ballots after election day.
RNC officials also quoted another poll in their press release that showed 75 percent of voters, including 69 percent of black voters, support voter ID laws.
Georgia’s new voter integrity lawrequiresvoter ID on all absentee ballots, increases oversight of local election boards that fail to follow state election law, and secures drop boxes around the clock. Officials at Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines announced earlier this year that they opposed SB 202.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp supports the law and told MLB officials and executives at Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines in April that he will not buckle under their pressure.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
