Jordan seeking All-star answers from MLB
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-ohio) wants Major League Baseball’s commissioner to provide him and several other conservative Republicans with documents and communications it produced concerning its decision to relocate the All-star game from Atlanta after Georgia changed its voting laws.
A letter that Jordan, of Champaign County, sent to Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. with Kentucky’s Rep. James Comer and Georgia’s Rep. Jody Hice said the league’s actions “amount to attempted economic extortion that has harmed small businesses in and around Atlanta.” It noted that 2019′s All-star Game brought an estimated $65 million in “regional economic activity” to Cleveland, and said the 2021 All-star Game “likely would have infused a similar amount into Atlanta’s local economy.”
Manfred announced the decision to move the game this month, issuing a statement that said “Major League
Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” and that relocating this year’s All-star Game and baseball league draft is “the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport.” The game will instead be held in Denver.
The new Georgia law would make it a misdemeanor to hand out snacks or beverages to anyone standing in line to vote, and also imposes a new photo ID requirement for voting by absentee mail. Ohio currently requires a photo ID or the last four digits of your social security number to vote absenteee.
Democrats claim the law will restrict access to voting, particularly for minorities, while its Republican backers argue it’s needed to restore confidence in the state’s elections. Jordan last week joined efforts to remove baseball’s anti-trust exemption in response to its decision to move the All-star game.
Jordan’s new letter asks
Manfred to “provide documents and information about Major League Baseball’s (MLB) attempt to use its immense market power and resources to influence the official actions of the elected representatives of Georgia.” It says the league’s decision “to insert itself in Georgia’s election laws was based on inaccurate and politicized information.” It says the new law expands early voting by requiring additional access to weekend voting, codifies the use of ballot drop boxes, reduces precinct wait times, and requires identification for absentee voting, which is already required for in-person voting.
It criticizes the league for not raising similar concerns about election laws in other states, including Colorado, which it says are “more restrictive.” It also calls MLB’S opposition to Georgia’s “voter integrity” measures “unabashedly hypocritical” in light of its partnerships with communist regimes in China and Cuba that suppress free and fair elections in order to promote baseball in their countries.
“Although Democrats and some woke corporate elites like to claim that the new Georgia law constitutes ‘Jim Crow 2.0′ and ‘voter suppression,’ these claims are false and unfounded,” the letter says. “In fact, the law enhances access to voting and many of the new provisions ‘are popular even among Black voters.’ An Atlanta Journal-constitution poll found that 74% of Georgians support voter ID requirements, including 63% of African American respondents.”
The letter gives Manfred until May 6 to provide documents and communications that pertain to the decision
Clark County; BEERS, Lavonne Clark County; FARRIES, Maretta to relocate the All-star Game, and its examination of election laws in Georgia and other states.
Republican state lawmakers in Georgia and other states have proposed or passed numerous new restrictions on voting this year, justifying them with Republican former President Donald Trump’s bogus claims of widespread voter fraud during last year’s presidential election.
Jordan, an ardent Trump supporter, was among those who challenged the legitimacy of the election of President Joe Biden.