Georgia’s government Brian Kemp on Saturday slammed Major League Baseball’s decision to move its All-Star Game out of state over the new law restricting votes, arguing that the move was an economic hit. for Georgians would deliver.
Mr. Kemp, a Republican, sees the fight for suffrage in Georgia as an entirely biased one devised by Democrats, rather than a civil rights effort to protect access to the ballot, as Republicans seek new limits on voting. all over the country.
“Yesterday, Major League Baseball conceded to the fears and lies of liberal activists,” he said. Kemp told a news conference, flanked by Republican Attorney General of the state, GOP members of the legislature and activists. “In the midst of a pandemic, Major League Baseball put the wishes of Stacey Abrams and Joe Biden before the economic well-being of hard-working Georgians who counted on the All-Star Game for a salary.”
The governor peppered his speech with conservative keywords such as “cancel culture,” emphasizing how Republicans want to gain access to the vote, a key issue they may include in the cultural debates that provide the basis of party animation.
Mr. Kemp, who is running for re-election in 2022, sought to re-enter the good graces of Republican voters after becoming a central political target of former President Donald J. Trump because of his refusal to run for re-election. Trump overturned the state’s election results last year. A former Georgia secretary of state, who has his own record of decisions that have hampered the vote for state residents, is again an important voice of the IDP leading the charge on this.
On Saturday, he repeatedly tried to outline the league’s decision as driven by Stacey Abrams, the suffrage advocate and former Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, who is likely to return to the presidency next year. Kemp will challenge.
Mrs. Abrams, one of the most prominent critics of Georgia’s suffrage law, has backed calls for sports leagues and corporations to boycott the state. She said on Friday that she was “disappointed” that baseball officials had withdrawn the All-Star Game, but that she was “proud of their stance on voting rights”.
In order to protect the law in Georgia, Mr. Kemp singled out two democratically controlled states, New York and Delaware, and compared their voting regulations to the new law in Georgia. These states do not offer as many early voting options as Georgia, but they have also not adopted new laws imposing restrictions on voting.
“In New York, they voted ten days early,” he said. Kemp said (New York actually has nine). ‘In Georgia, we have a minimum of 17, with two additional Sundays optional in our state. In New York, you have to have an excuse to be absent. In Georgia, you can vote absent for any reason. ”
Mr. Kemp’s news conference followed a week of television appearances in which he firmly defended the law, arguing that it increased access to voting due to an extra requirement Saturday of early voting. He and other Republicans have condemned criticism of the law as a political game by state and national Democratic leaders. (The New York Times reviewed the voting law and found 16 key sections that could impede access to the vote or the non-partisan administration of elections.)
The decision to move the All-Star Game was the first major statement by a leading organization or enterprise since Georgia passed its voting law, and came amid a growing chorus of corporate statements denouncing the legislation after it has already been signed.
Delta and Coca-Cola, two of the largest companies in the state, ended a week of silence on Wednesday, stating that they are against the law.
“I want to be crystal clear,” Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said Wednesday. “The Coca-Cola company does not support this legislation because it makes it harder for people to vote and not easier.”
Big companies and Major League Baseball have been pressured to act by black managers, Black baseball players and religious leaders who wanted to see major U.S. institutions take a stronger stance against voting rights in Georgia, as well as similar Republican efforts now advancing in countries across the country.
Mr. Kemp challenged Major League Baseball to consider what it could do if the Atlanta Braves win the playoffs.
“What are they going to do if the Braves win the playoffs?” he said. “Are they going to move the damn playoff game?”
And he said more changes or boycotts at the events would not encourage him to reconsider the law or support any adjustments to it.
Mr Kemp promised that he “will not falter”, “for everyone who is there and thinks that any form of snowball is going to have an effect on me will not do it.”