Topline
More Than a Vote, the voting rights agency launched last year by LeBron James, announced Tuesday that it was partnering with the National Basketball Association, NBA Players Association and chapter Georgia of the NAACP to oppose recent Republican measures to vote access back.
“There’s no way I’m keeping up with sport because I understand what this platform is like and how … [+]
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Key facts
With the NBA All-Star Game set to be played Sunday in Atlanta, More Than a Vote says it intends to draw the attention the league is generating this weekend to put pressure on it. forthcoming legislation across the country will create barriers to voting, which will have a disproportionate impact on Black Americans and urban communities. .
Addisu Demissie, executive director of More Than A Vote, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the national audience watching the All-Star Game provides a “unique opportunity to work with our partners to highlight these suffrage efforts. “
The group plans to provide fans “with the tools they need to fight back.”
Mark Tatum, the league’s deputy commissioner, told the AJC that the NBA intends to “promote greater access to voting and encourage civic participation.”
Critical Quote:
“These attacks on voter rights in Georgia and elsewhere will not go unchallenged,” said Michele Roberts, executive director of the NBA Player Association, adding that players “have pledged to use their voices to join with others in the fight against those who seek to deny equal justice in our communities. “
Key background information:
On Monday, a House Republican in Georgia passed House Bill 531, a comprehensive elections bill that will require photo ID for absentee voting, limiting the time voters must request an absent ballot, and restricting early weekend voting hours, among other measures. Republicans, many of whom support unfounded claims by former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election has been stolen, insist the bill is needed to reassure back in the election process. House Democrats opposed the broad legislation and civil rights groups protested outside the Capitol. Democratic representative Renitta Shannon said Georgia House Republicans were “doing everything they can to mimic the voices of Black and Brown voters” who relied on the influence of Joe Biden, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. However, Georgia is not the only state trying to change voting and representation rules in the U.S. “The attacks on voting rights in Georgia are great, but they are just one example of a national effort to black vote of our power to take away., “Demissie said. According to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice, as of last month, lawmakers had introduced 253 bills with provisions restricting access to voting across 43 states. Last week, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill that would shorten the time residents can vote early or absent by nine days and close polling stations on Election Day an hour earlier. (According to the Daily Iowan, nearly 60% of Iowans voted early in the 2020 general election, but there is no evidence that election fraud occurred).
Key critic:
“The usual response of a party that is losing out in a functioning democracy is to change their platform to make it more attractive,” Kenneth Mayer, a voting and election expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told an New York Times Last week. “Here, the answer is to try to keep people from voting. It is dangerous against democracy.”
Tangent:
Over the weekend, LeBron James, responding to recent criticism from Zlatan Ibrahimovic at AC Milan, promised to continue fighting racial injustice in the United States. Speaking to reporters after the Lakers won 102-93 over the Portland Trail Blazers, James said, “there’s no way I’ll ever stick to sports because I understand so highly and the power of my voice. “
Further reading:
LeBron James: I Never Do ‘Shut Up’ and ‘Stick To Sports’ (Forbes)
NBA, LeBron James teammate to fight voter ban at All-Star (AJC) weekend