The stars aligned for baseball fans in Denver, thanks in part to their state’s progressive voting rules.
Major League Baseball, having pulled its All-Star Game from Atlanta because of the new Georgia voter law, will announce the site as Denver’s Coors Field.
Home of the National League West Division Colorado Rockies, Coors Field hosted the game in 1998.
The official word from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is expected as early as Tuesday.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, who served as head of the Denver Urban League, told Yahoo! Finance a city team lobbied MLB officials over the weekend.
“We’re proud to welcome it and to talk about the progressive voting system in Denver, that is bent on making sure no one, no one is abridged from their right to vote …” Hancock said in the Yahoo! story.
“We really believe that we have come out at the forefront and we’ll continue to try to innovate, make sure that on the basis of the value of accessibility that that’s No. 1.”
The decision certainly has not been universally embraced.
Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said baseball “caved to fear and lies from liberal activists.”
And on Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, also a Republican, decided against throwing out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home opener.
The Democratic governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, also made it clear this was more than a baseball decision via statement to MLB on Sunday: “The Governor knows that Colorado is the best home for the All-Star Game, especially because Colorado also has strong laws that enable voters to cast their legal ballots any way they choose including through mail or in person.’’
Manfred said that MLB “fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
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