BlackRock CEO Larry Fink posted a statement on LinkedIn saying the company was concerned about the wave of new restrictive voting laws. “BlackRock is concerned about efforts that could restrict voting access for everyone,” Fink said. “Voting should be easy and accessible to ALL eligible voters.” The federal legislation Quincey appears to be referring to is HR1, a comprehensive government ethics and elections bill that, among other things, would thwart Republican efforts at the state level to restrict access to elections. The Democratic-led House of Representatives approved the bill earlier this month. Research shows that switching to mail-in voting can have a huge impact on voter turnout. In Colorado, for example, absentee-only voting (where ballots are mailed in and can be returned by mail or dropped off at certain safe locations) increased voter turnout by 9.4 percentage points, a margin almost unknown among election experts. Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco and raised in Georgia, said on Twitter that “voting is a fundamental right in our democracy” and that “governments should work to make voting easier, not harder.” The outcry against the laws has been widespread, even starting with President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola, one of Georgia`s largest employers — and whose brand is closely tied to the state because of its foundation and centuries of history — refused to speak out against the law when it was discussed. Instead, he issued a vaguely positive statement that the company is “actively working with the Atlanta Metro Chamber of Commerce to voice our concerns and advocate for positive change in election legislation. We, along with our business coalition partners, sought improvements that would improve accessibility, maximize voter turnout, maintain electoral integrity, and serve all Georgians,” Bloomberg said. Businesses that remained silent last week as Georgia Republicans rushed to pass legislation restricting access to elections changed course Wednesday amid growing outrage from activists, customers and a coalition of powerful black leaders.
Business leaders are under increasing pressure to denounce Georgia`s election law and similar measures in other states. Quincey`s new statement follows his earlier criticism of calling the law “unacceptable” and a “step backwards.” This brings us to the role of the Georgian business elite. Both Delta and Coca-Cola say they worked behind the scenes during the drafting process to remove some particularly egregious provisions from the voting bill, but that won`t be enough. A week after the bill was signed, Republican-led electoral reform in Georgia is facing backlash from a growing number of corporate votes, including several of the state`s largest companies and Major League Baseball. Dozens of companies have joined those criticisms in recent days, including some that have faced possible boycotts from supporters for not speaking out more forcefully before the law was passed. These include Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola Co., both based in Atlanta. Last week, Georgia Republicans passed the Electoral Integrity Act of 2021, a euphemism for a series of laws that severely restrict privilege and access to voting. The new laws, signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on March 25, shorten the time it takes to request a mail-in ballot, while enforcing stricter identification rules and eliminating mobile voting buses, which have helped reduce long lines. Out of sheer malice, the laws also limit the supply of food and drink to those waiting at election lines; now, only election workers are allowed to distribute water, although some queues last for hours, especially in communities where Georgia does not have adequate polling stations.
Republicans who passed the bill say the measure is necessary to prevent fraud and stop illegal elections, and toy with discredited allegations of widespread fraud in last year`s presidential election. Opponents say the law amounts to voter suppression efforts that will reduce minority voting. After weeks of pressure from activists, some major corporations and prominent black leaders are speaking out a little more strongly against a new law in Georgia that would restrict access to elections. Officials from both companies said they had worked with elected officials from both parties to provide input during the legislative process and speak out against measures that would restrict access to elections, and said they would continue to push to protect voting rights at the local and national levels. The problem with this logic, Hill told me, is that much of this research goes back more than 10 years, when the absentee voting cohort was radically different from today`s. Coke, which originally contained traces of cocaine, was invented by a former lieutenant colonel in the Confederate Army named John Pemberton, who became addicted to morphine after being wounded in the final weeks of the Civil War. Pemberton, a pharmacist, sold the formula to fellow pharmacist Asa Griggs Candler, and for years it was only found on white soda fountains. Then Candler sold the bottling rights and made the drink more widely available.
Candler removed cocaine from prescription in 1903, not because the drug was illegal — it wasn`t yet illegal — but because it was associated with black men in the white imagination. “The rumors at the time were that black men were drinking Coca-Cola, getting high and raping white women,” said Mark Pendergrast, author of “For God, Country, and Coca-Cola.” The company wanted to minimize any connection between soft drinks and black consumers. “They didn`t have black people in their ads during the Depression, except to show them as Aunt Jemima types or servants with a Coca-Cola platter,” Pendergrast said. Criticism of the legislation in the form of statements affirming the importance of fair voting access came from other Georgia-based companies, including UPS, Home Depot, Porsche Cars North America and the Atlanta Falcons, according to CNBC. It also comes from outside the state. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, condemned the legislation in a statement to CNN Business, in which he said that “the company`s employees include the United States and since state capitals debate election laws, we believe voting must be accessible and fair.” Delta`s statement came shortly after some of America`s top black business leaders and CEOs issued a letter condemning widespread efforts in the U.S. to make voting more difficult.