Voters voted in the Georgia Senate election at a Fulton County polling station in Atlanta, Georgia, USA on January 5, 2021. REUTERS / Elijah Nouvelage / File Photo
More than 100 U.S. companies, including Apple Inc. (AAPL.O), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN.O), Ford Motor Co. (FN) and Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O), have stated opposition to the limitation. of the vote that several states are considering implementing.
Activist groups claim that the restrictions, outlined in the voting rights bills that were already passed in Georgia and weighed in, among others, Texas and Arizona, are specifically targeted at blacks and other racial minorities.
“We should all have a responsibility to defend the right to vote and to oppose any discriminatory legislation or measures that restricts or prevents any eligible voter from having an equal and fair opportunity to vote,” the companies said in a letter published as two ads on Wednesday’s page in the New York Times.
The statement was initiated by former American Express (AXP.N) CEO Ken Chenault and Merck & Co (MRK.N) CEO Ken Frazier.
“It was important for companies to affirm some of the basic principles of our democracy and the most fundamental is the right to vote,” Chenault said in an interview with Reuters.
The two executives lobbied for companies to take a position on a Zoom call with about 100 CEOs, investors, lawyers and corporate directors on Saturday.
Republican lawmakers have criticized CEOs for talking about it. Chenault said the charter-sponsored group, which includes the Black Economic Alliance, would not be “prescriptive” about how companies should express their opposition to specific legislation.
Republicans across the country are using the false statements of fraud by former President Donald Trump voters to support statewide voting changes they say are needed to restore electoral integrity.
Opponents of the movements say they are meant to disenfranchise citizens who tend not to vote Republicans.
On Tuesday, in a separate statement, top executives from more than three dozen Michigan-based companies, including General Motors Co. (GM.N) and Ford, proactively opposed Republican-backed legislation that could restrict voting there.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. (KO.N) and Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) were not one of the signatories to Wednesday’s letter, but have issued individual statements calling the limits of the “unacceptable” vote in Georgia.
Delta declined to comment on Wednesday’s letter. Coca-Cola said it had not seen the letter, but was open to hearing the perspective of the Black Economic Alliance.
“We continue to dialogue,” Chenault said.
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