A multitude of big-name businesses and high-profile individuals, including Amazon, Facebook and Warren Buffett, are showing their support for voters’ rights.
In a letter published in The New York Times, the group stressed that Americans should be allowed to cast ballots for the candidates of their choice.
“For American democracy to work for any of us, we must ensure the right to vote for all of us,” they wrote.
The group said people “should feel a responsibility to defend the right to vote and oppose any discriminatory legislation or measures that restrict or prevent any eligible voter from having an equal and fair opportunity to cast a ballot.”
The letter was signed by hundreds. Businesses spanned sectors including banking, retail, health care and technology.
Over the weekend more than a hundred top executives and corporate leaders gathered online to discuss their response to restrictive voting laws under consideration in several states and already enacted in Georgia. Media reports indicate the statement put out Wednesday was discussed during the weekend meeting. It comes after 72 Black executives signed a similar statement last month in the wake of changes to Georgia’s voting laws.
More than 350 different voting bills are under consideration in dozens of states, according to a tally from the Brennan Center for Justice, a public-policy think-tank . On Tuesday Arkansas was among the latest to approve changes to its election laws, including restrictions on outside polling places and on absentee ballots.
Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press
