Businesses Go Silent as GOP-Led States Rush to Restrict Voting
- Activists accuse Coke, others of lost spine amid GOP onslaught
- ‘Almost as bad as silence,’ says Black Voters Matter cofounder
Many U.S. companies loudly championed voter access in 2020 and recoiled at the stolen-election myth that fueled the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Now that Republican state lawmakers across the country are using the same debunked claims to advance unprecedented ballot restrictions, those businesses have fallen mostly silent.
The reluctance to take a public stand against the measures is starkest in corporate headquarters-rich Georgia, where Republican lawmakers are proposing dramatic voting curbs that would especially affect Black voters. Ballot-rights advocates are pushing companies -- including Coca-Cola Co, Delta Airlines Inc., AFLAC Inc., Home Depot Inc., United Parcel Service Inc. and Southern Co. -- to oppose the bills.
The activists, who helped deliver control of the U.S. Senate to the Democrats, are also putting pressure on President Joe Biden to support an overhaul of federal election laws that would shield voters’ rights from statehouse Republican efforts to undermine them.