Past & Present Colorado Delegates Defend State's Election Laws Amid All-Star Game Decision

DENVER (CBS4) - Baseball may be a game, but action from Major League Baseball awarding the 2021 All-Star Game to Denver is clearly seen as a political statement on voting rights. Georgia struck out leaving Colorado the game winner.

The most valuable player award may go to the state's election laws.

After hearing the announcement U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper called Colorado the gold standard of fair elections.

"I think best of all it was created by Democrats and Republicans all over the state all of the county clerks got together the majority were Republicans, and they said the more people that vote the better the world is going to be," said Hickenlooper.

Enacted in 2013, Colorado mails ballots to all registered voters and has a huge 95% rate which
happens to be the second highest in the country.

Former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican, helped implement the mail in voting law.

"I'm not a fan of sports being involved in politics and breaking commitments, but if they are going to do it I welcome the All-Star game coming here," Williams said.

Georgia's recently-passed law would expand early voting, but shrink the absentee voting window. It limits drop boxes and gives more control to state lawmakers, now a Republican majority.

Williams pointed to a Democrat-backed bill before the U.S. Congress that he said would invalidate some of Colorado's election law. He says the bill is called, "For the People."

He said it would delay election results and invalidate Colorado's provisions for validation of signatures which allows voters to correct signatures that do not match. He said he hopes the bill which has passed the House will fail in the Senate.

Colorado's current Secretary of State, Jena Griswold issued a statement saying,

"We've got the most accessible and secure elections in the country and we are grateful that MLB is giving us the opportunity to showcase how elections can be."