As a number of companies reevaluate their relationship with the state of Georgia following a new voting law was enacted last week, President Joe Biden offered lukewarm backing for companies considering leaving the state.
Speaking on the same day MLB announced that Colorado will host the 2021 All-Star Game after the league pulled the game from Georgia, Biden said, “It is reassuring to see that for-profit operations and businesses are speaking up about how these new Jim Crow laws are just antithetical to who we are. There is another side to it too. The other side of it too is when they move out of Georgia, the people who need the help the most, the people making hourly wages, sometimes get hurt the worst."
“The best way to deal with this is for Georgia and other states to smarten up, stop it,” Biden added.
Biden narrowly won the state in 2020, which has traditionally been a GOP stronghold. Biden relied heavily on mail-in ballots en route to victory in Georgia.
While a previous version of the bill in Georgia would have prohibited no-excuse mail-in voting for most voters in Georgia, the new law will limit access to ballot drop boxes to eight hours per day. The law also reduces the number of days voters can apply for mail-in ballots.
The law will require voters to submit identification, which voting-rights advocates say disproportionately disenfranchises Black voters. Proponents of the legislation say this provision is necessary to ensure a secure election.
In recent days, a number of large Georgia-based corporations, namely Delta and Coca-Cola, have spoken out against the law. The leaders of both companies issued statements decrying the bill, but neither CEO would go so far as to say whether operations in Georgia would be scaled back.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who signed the bill into law, blasted MLB, Delta and Coca-Cola for their statements.
"Major League Baseball, Coca-Cola and Delta may be scared of Stacey Abrams, Joe Biden and the left, but I am not,” he said.
