Originally Authored at TheFederalist.com
In the years since its implementation, Democrat claims that Georgia’s 2021 election integrity would suppress voters (particularly non-white ones) have been proven to be total bunk. So, why are the statute’s biggest critics still refusing to apologize for their lies?
Earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is dropping its Biden-era lawsuit against Georgia’s SB 202, which codified commonsense election safeguards such as voter ID requirements for mail-in voting into state statute. The lawfare was first initiated in June 2021 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland following a months-long Democrat smear campaign that involved baseless accusations the law suppressed non-white voters.
Contrary to these derogatory charges and Joe Biden grossly labeling SB 202 as “Jim Crow on steroids,” voter turnout in the Peach State since the law’s implementation have shown the exact opposite is true.
As noted by Bondi, “[b]lack voter turnout actually increased under SB 202.” The Trump DOJ additionally detailed how the statute’s provisions “spurred record voter turnout, including among Black Georgians.”
During the 2022 midterm elections, for example, Georgia saw record early voter turnout for the November contest and subsequent Senate runoff election. A poll conducted after the midterms also revealed that zero percent of black Georgia voters said they had a “poor” experience voting in the 2022 contest.
And yet, despite the overwhelming evidence debunking Democrats’ outlandish accusations, the loudest voices who spent months slandering SB 202 refuse to apologize for their costly lies — including numerous high-profile corporations.
Major League Baseball (MLB), for example, bowed to pressure from Biden and withdrew its annual All-Star Game and accompanying festivities from Atlanta to protest the Georgia election law’s passage. In a statement announcing the decision, MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred regurgitated false Democrat talking points, claiming SB 202 created “restrictions to the ballot” for prospective voters.
The league’s move had devastating effects on Georgia’s economy, with some business leaders estimating the move cost the state “upwards of $100 million” in lost revenue. MLB quietly announced in September 2023 that the league will be moving its All-Star events back to Atlanta starting in 2025.
When pressed on whether Manfred and the league will be issuing an official apology for falsely smearing Georgia’s election integrity law in response to the DOJ dropping its lawsuit, however, MLB did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment. (Manfred and MLB also declined to apologize in September 2023 after announcing plans to move the league’s All-Star festivities back to Atlanta).
[READ: Congress Should Subpoena MLB’s Rob Manfred To Admit All-Star Georgia Boycott Was A Partisan Pretense]
But it’s not just Manfred and MLB who are refusing to apologize to Georgians for their reckless and false smears. Georgia-based businesses such as Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines also did not respond to The Federalist’s requests for comment on whether they would do so in light of the DOJ dropping its Biden-era lawsuit against the state.
In response to SB 202’s passage, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey issued a statement insisting the law “would diminish or deter access to voting,” while claiming the beverage giant would shift its focus toward “supporting federal legislation that protects voting access” and tackles so-called “voter suppression across the country.”
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian issued similar remarks, claiming the 2021 measure “includes provisions that will make it harder for many underrepresented voters, particularly Black voters, to exercise their constitutional right to elect their representatives.” He further contended the “entire rationale for [SB 202] was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections. This is simply not true.”
“Unfortunately, that excuse is being used in states across the nation that are attempting to pass similar legislation to restrict voting rights,” Bastian said.
The Delta CEO also said the company would be “closely monitoring” the progression of congressional Democrats’ John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. As Jonathan Tobin previously wrote in these pages, that proposed bill “would allow the federal government to intervene anywhere in the country to overrule local or state authorities whenever the left alleges that changes in the laws could theoretically disadvantage minority voters.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood