(Reuters) – More than 100 US companies, including Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Ford Motor Co, and Starbucks Corp, have stated that they oppose voting against the ballot boxes that a number of states are considering introducing.
Activist groups say the restrictions – outlined in voting rights bills already passed in Georgia and being weighed in Texas and Arizona, among others – specifically target black people and other racial minorities.
“We should all feel a responsibility to defend the right to vote and to oppose any discriminatory legislation or measures that restrict or prevent an eligible voter from having an equal and fair chance to vote,” said the companies in a letter published as a two-page ad nyti.ms/3e0fvnL in the New York Times on Wednesday.
The statement was the initiative of former American Express Chief Executive Officer Ken Chenault and Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck & Co.
“It was important for companies to defend some of the core principles of our democracy and the most fundamental is the right to vote,” Chenault said in an interview with Reuters.
The two executives urged companies to take a stand on Saturday during a Zoom call with about 100 CEOs, investors, lawyers and company directors.
Republican lawmakers have criticized CEOs for speaking out on the issue. Chenault said the group that sponsored the letter, including the Black Economic Alliance, would not be “prescriptive” about how companies should express their opposition to specific pieces of legislation.
Republicans across the country are using former President Donald Trump’s false claims about voter fraud to back up state-level voting changes they believe are necessary to restore the integrity of the election.
Opponents of the movements say they are intended to deprive citizens who do not vote for Republican from their right to vote.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, the top executives of more than three dozen Michigan-based companies, including General Motors Co and Ford, proactively opposed Republican-backed legislation that could restrict voting there.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co and Delta Air Lines Inc were not among the signatories to Wednesday’s letter, but have made individual statements calling Georgia’s voting restrictions “unacceptable.”
Delta declined to comment on Wednesday’s letter. Coca-Cola said it had not seen the letter, but was open to the perspective of the Black Economic Alliance.
“We are continuing the dialogue,” said Chenault.
Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York and Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Edited by Ramakrishnan M. and John Stonestreet