Coca-Cola and Home Depot, both headquartered in Atlanta, have come out against the Georgia Legislature’s push for election reform.
Georgia, like dozens of states across the country, is debating how to fix the election system in the country. Democrats, now joined by the likes of Coca-Cola and Home Depot, argue the appropriate changes should include extending voting by mail and making it easier for eligible voters to register, while Republicans argue the way to make elections more secure is by adding restrictions, such as voter ID laws and limiting drop boxes and making absentee voting requirements more strict.
Many Georgia-based companies have faced pressure from Democratic grassroots activists, calling on them to voice their opposition to the proposed changes.
COCA-COLA ‘DIE-IN’ SHAKES UP CAMPAIGN AGAINST GOP-BACKED BALLOT RESTRICTIONS
Representatives from each of the companies told the Washington Post that their companies are “aligned” with the state’s Chamber of Commerce, who on Sunday spoke out against two of the bills passing through the Georgia Legislature.
The chamber, in statements to CNBC, took issue with bills SB 241 and HB 531. SB 241, which passed the state’s Senate, would eliminate no-excuse absentee voting, while HB 531, which has been passed by the House, would add an ID requirement for absentee ballot requests, limit the number of absentee ballot drop boxes, and shorten the window for absentee voting.
“We believe that all elections should be accessible, fair, and secure and support broad voter participation. We’ll continue to work to ensure our associates, both in Georgia and across the country, have the information and resources to vote,” Sara Gorman, a spokeswoman for Home Depot, told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “For example, we promoted voter participation in the last election through our internal Get Out The Vote initiative, confirming 15,500 voter registrations among our associates. In addition, we matched more than 1,800 associates with local opportunities to volunteer at polling locations across the country, including 600 technology worker volunteers in Atlanta to support complex technology issues and cybersecurity related to the election. We also donated 9,200 plexiglass dividers across Georgia to help meet poll station safety requirements.”
“Voting is a foundational right in America, and we will continue to work to advance voting rights and access in Georgia and across the country,” Coca-Cola said in a statement to multiple news outlets, however, the company did not immediately return the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. “We support efforts by the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce to help facilitate a balanced approach to the elections bills that have been introduced in the Georgia Legislature this session. The ultimate goal should be fair, secure elections where access to voting is broad-based and inclusive.”
On Monday, protesters staged a “die-in” at the World of Coca-Cola facility in order to protest the proposed restrictions on voting.
Aflac, Delta Air Lines, and UPS, all of which are also based in Georgia, released statements on the subject but none endorsed or opposed any of the legislation.
Georgia politician Stacey Abrams, who lost the 2018 gubernatorial race against Gov. Brian Kemp, called the various bills that would make it harder to vote a second coming of Jim Crow laws over the weekend.
“Well, first of all, I do absolutely agree that it’s racist. It is a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie,” Abrams said. “We know that the only thing that precipitated these changes, it’s not that there was the question of security.”
Forty-three states have carried over, prefiled, or introduced a total of 253 bills that would restrict voting access, as of late February, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal-leaning law and policy institute.
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The issue of election reform is also being fought between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. Democrats have sought to push H.R 1, which has passed in the House, and H.R. 4, a bill that strengthens the Voting Rights Act of 1965, although both face uphill battles in the Senate. While several Democrats have refused to get rid of the filibuster, it appears that could be the only way to get such legislation passed.
