From our Friends at 75M & Rising
We applaud Georgia’s new election legislation, and we are dismayed to see boycotts from Delta, Coca-Cola, the MLB Players Association, and Hollywood. Without reading the bill or understanding how Georgians see election integrity, these organizations seek to shame, cancel and punish Georgia.
Our friends at 75M & Rising has an Email & Letter writing campaign focused on changing the minds at Major League Baseball (MLB). As an American cultural icon, MLB should stay out of politics. Let’s make sure MLB knows how disappointed we are by their politicization of sports here in America.
Please take a look at the background and use the sample letter below.
BACKGROUND
- MLB threatened and made a decision to move the July 13th All-Star game out of Atlanta “as a form of economic punishment” to Georgia’s election reform
- MLB and MLB Players Association are injecting their personal politics into America’s favorite pastime. And it is up to us to make sure this is a big SWING…AND A MISS!
- Politics has no place in a sport as diverse as baseball with a diverse fan base that spans the nation. The sport itself is uniquely American, embraced and enjoyed by Americans of all stripes and backgrounds. The actions taken by the MLB are divisive, disrespectful, and dismissive in regard to at least half of this nation.
- President Biden has spoken out about Georgia’s election reform, even though the Washington Post gave him 4 Pinocchios for misrepresenting what the Georgia bill actually says and does.
- We need to enlighten the MLB to keep politics out of our national pastime.
- BTW they moved the games to Denver — an ironic, hypocritical move as Colorado has voting laws similar to Georgia’s new laws
TAKE ACTION:
Contact the Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner by email:
mlbexecutiverelations@website.mlb.com
customerservice@website.mlb.com
Or by letter:
Attn: Commissioner Robert Manfred
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
1271 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY, 10020
SAMPLE EMAIL / LETTER:
Subject: De-Politicize Major League Baseball
Dear MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred:
Your decision to remove the All-Star Game and Draft from Georgia is based on complete ignorance about Georgia’s new legislation, which is not, as you falsely claim, about “restrictions to the ballot box.” For this reason, this baseball fan will be boycotting MLB until you come to your senses and stop extorting fans with a political agenda that ignores at least half of your fans, if not more.
Politics has no place in America’s favorite pastime. Baseball reflects the diversity of America with a diverse fan base that spans the nation. The sport itself is uniquely American, embraced and enjoyed by Americans of all stripes and backgrounds, and should be a sport that brings us all together. Your organization’s threats, on the other hand, are divisive, disrespectful, and dismissive in regard to at least half of this nation, likely more, and turns off your fan base.
The MLB Boycott against Georgia is not only un-American, but also unsportsmanlike behavior that does a disservice to all baseball fans. In fact, it reeks of political extortion. In making this decision, you have injected your personal politics into a sport that should remain neutral so that ALL Americans, regardless of political affiliations or viewpoints, can enjoy the sport together.
Sadly, you have neglected to do your homework. How about a little inside baseball on what is really in the Georgia legislation? After all, you don’t want to be caught napping:
- It actually expands the hours for voting. Previous law called for voting to take place during business hours and since many counties had part-time offices, they were limited to those part-time hours. By defining business hours to be 9 am to 5 pm in the legislation, those counties are now required to operate during those expanded hours and all counties are allowed to operate from 7 am to 7 pm, as the law currently provides. This, in addition to expanded early voting, actually facilitates accessibility for all Georgians in all locations.
- Accessibility to voting is further enhanced by now codifying and regulating the locations of drop boxes which were just a temporary measure because of Covid. They will be in all counties and supervised to prevent tampering. Without the legislation, there is nothing legislatively that permits the drop boxes short of another emergency.
- Previous law was silent on early voting on Sundays and only 16 of 159 counties permitted it. Now, all localities must provide for early voting on two Saturdays; Sundays are optional.
- The legislation does not prevent people in line from having access to food or water, but prevents outside groups from electioneering by engaging those in line with food or water.
- Communities that seemed to be disproportionately impacted with long lines, have been directed under the new legislation to cure waits over one hour with more machines, election personnel, and polling places.
- The new legislation requires a driver’s license or FREE state ID, which 97% of registered voters already have and is supported by 74% of Georgia voters, 63% of black voters, and 89% of people earning less than $25,000 annually, according to AJC polling. This replaces the signature match program which caused so much controversy by disqualifying thousands of votes in 2020.
So boycott Georgia and politicize baseball, Mr. Manfred, and rest assured the fans will stay out of the stands. You might think you knocked it out of the park, but trust me, this will be a swing and a miss.
<<Your Name>>
<<Baseball-team-you-support fan>>