Protesters are gathering outside the Georgia State Capitol to protest HB 531, which would impose stricter restrictions on voting in Georgia, in Atlanta, Georgia, US on March 4, 2021.
Dustin Chambers | Reuters
US companies are facing increasing pressure and boycott threats to publicly protest Republican-backed election laws in Georgia and other states that critics say are undermining black Americans’ right to vote.
Opposition rose on Friday when Major League Baseball announced it would no longer hold the 2021 All-Star Game in Atlanta this summer, with Commissioner Robert Manfred saying the league “fundamentally supports the right to vote for all Americans and opposes restrictions on the ballot box. “
GOP Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill last week to transform the election into a law that adds new identification requirements for absenteeism while the state legislature gets more scrutiny over the way elections are conducted.
The legislation prohibits third-party groups from giving food or water to voters waiting in line and imposes strict guidelines on the availability and location of ballot boxes. It also requires an early vote on two Saturdays in the run-up to general elections. Previously, only one day was required.
Civil rights groups and activists have pressured some of Georgia’s largest corporations, including Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, to oppose the law. Coke and Delta did not vocally oppose the legislation before it was passed, but their CEOs have since condemned the law.
After the bill passed, pressure on businesses began to increase after Merck CEO Ken Frazier and other Black executives organized a public campaign to urge companies to announce the legislation. Many companies had taken broad positions in support of the right to vote, but tried not to take specific positions on Georgian law.
It’s unclear whether a corporate response will change the outcome in Georgia, where the law was passed. Civil rights organizations have challenged it in court, and President Joe Biden said the US Department of Justice would investigate the law, which he called an “atrocity.”
Coke CEO James Quincey told CNBC on Wednesday that the company was “always against this legislation”, calling it “wrong.”
“Now that it’s over, we’re coming out more publicly,” said Quincey.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian initially said the legislation had “improved significantly” and offered broad support for voting rights. He flipped the course on Wednesday in a memo to the employee, saying that the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values. Delta is Georgia’s largest employer.
Bastian also tore Republican lawmakers’ motivation for the bill by suggesting that “the whole rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 election.”
In November, Biden became the first Democrat since 1992 to win Georgia. Voters also elected two Democrats to the Senate, Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, at second election in January. Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have falsely claimed that there was ubiquitous voter fraud in Georgia’s election last year.
AT&T is based in Texas, but donated money to Kemp’s campaign and fellow sponsors of the legislation. The company’s CEO, John Stankey, told CNBC in a statement:
“We understand that election laws are complicated, not our company’s expertise and ultimately the responsibility of elected officials. But as a company, we have a responsibility to be involved. That’s why we partner with other companies through groups like the company. of efforts to improve everyone’s voting ability. “
In an interview Wednesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” Kemp dismissed the company’s response to state election laws, saying he is “happy to deal with it.” He added, “I would encourage these CEOs to look at other states in which they do business and compare what the real facts are with Georgia.”
Voting rights activist and former Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams this week urged critics not So far, Georgia’s big corporations are boycotting for their inability to oppose the electoral law. Instead, Abrams said companies should be given the opportunity to publicly oppose the law and support federal election laws before getting a boycott.
“The companies that watched in silence or responded with foul mouths during the debate were wrong,” Abrams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “What people want to know now is where they stand on this fundamental issue of voting rights.”
According to the AJC, some faith leaders in Georgia have called for a boycott of Coke, Delta, and Home Depot on April 7. However, the religious leaders have suggested that the boycott could be avoided if the companies take further positions, such as calling on lawmakers in other states to submit legislative proposals that they say would limit access to votes.
Texas election accounts are under scrutiny
While Georgian law has been signed, election laws are starting to be scrutinized in a number of other states, notably Texas. In pressuring companies to speak up, Frazier van Merck argued that Georgia is “at the forefront of a nationwide movement to restrict access to votes.”
According to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice, there have been 361 bills in 47 states as of March 24 that contain provisions that would limit access to votes.
The proposals in state houses in the US come as Democrats in Washington try to advance legislation called the For the People Act. Proponents say it would make it easier to register and vote, while also preventing gerrymanding and campaign finance reforms. Some Republicans who oppose the legislation say it would result in federal election overruns.
Last month, the US House passed their version of the For the People Act without a single Republican vote in favor. Its future in the Senate is uncertain, as it takes at least 10 GOP votes to overcome a filibuster and move to a final vote.
Powerful Texas corporations are also targeting bills that proponents of voting rights say would make voting more difficult in Texas.
Senate Law 7 was passed by the upper house of the state legislature on Thursday. Another bill known as House Bill 6 is pending in the Texas House of Representatives.
American Airlines, based in Fort Worth, Texas, opposed Senate Bill 7 in a statement Thursday. “To clarify American’s position, we strongly oppose this bill and similar others,” the airline said.
Dell CEO Michael Dell – whose technology company is based near Austin, the state capital – wrote in a tweet that the company did not support House Bill 6.
“Free, fair, and equitable access to votes is the foundation of American democracy. Those rights – especially for women, communities of color – are hard-earned,” Dell wrote. “Governments need to get citizens to make their voices heard. HB6 does the opposite, and we are against it.”