The opposition of major corporations such as Coca-Cola and Delta to a Georgia election law has drawn attention to an alliance of more than 1,000 companies that, in effect, have identified themselves as opponents of voting integrity.
The Civic Alliance boasts on its website that its membership has grown to 1,119 companies that employee more than 5 million people.
“As a coalition of businesses, we use our voice, our brand, and our reach to strengthen our democracy. We support safe, accessible, and trusted elections, and we inspire our employees and customers to participate in civic life,” the alliance says.
However, the objective of making elections “accessible” translates to opposition to laws such as Georgia’s that seek to ensure that every vote represents a legitimate voter and that voters are not disenfranchised.
Amid the controvesy over Georgia’s law, the Civic Alliance issued a letter last Friday condemning any effort to “restrict” ballot access, signed by 200 companies, including Salesforce, ViacomCBS and The Estée Lauder Companies.
“Companies have their fingers on the pulse of what’s going on with their consumers and employees, and this is a priority for folks and so companies are making it a priority for themselves,” said Mike Ward, co-founder of the Civic Alliance, NBC News reported.
The letter said in part, “We stand in solidarity with voters – and with the Black executives and leaders at the helm of this movement – in our nonpartisan commitment to equality and democracy.”
The statement said there are “hundreds of bills threatening to make voting more difficult in dozens of states nationwide.”
The alliance’s membership reads like a who’s who of corporate America, featuring Amazon, Verizon, McDonalds, Microsoft, PayPal, Uber, Airbnb, Best Buy, Capitol One, Dow, Hewlett Packard, Macy’s, Starbucks, United Airlines, Under Armour and Pepsico.
