Corporate accountability campaign in Georgia gains momentum
One year ago, as the pandemic took hold of the United States, I decided to take down Popular Information's paywall. Since then, every edition of Popular Information has been available for free. I made that decision for a couple of reasons:
Things appear to be trending in the right direction, but the pandemic is not over. If the cost of this newsletter ($6/month or $50/year) would create any kind of financial strain, I hope you stay on this free list. But, if you can afford it, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You can learn more about the impact of this newsletter over the last year HERE and HERE. Popular Information accepts no advertising and only exists because of the support of readers like you. Last Wednesday, Popular Information published a report documenting the corporate donors backing the legislators sponsoring two bills to dramatically restrict voting in Georgia. Soon thereafter, a coalition of civil rights groups — including the Georgia NAACP, the New Georgia Project, and Black Voters Matter — used the information as the basis for a campaign demanding that companies speak out against the legislation. The coalition placed advertisements in Georgia newspapers and projected the names of the corporate donors on the façade of a hotel across the street from the site of the NBA All-Star Game. The campaign, which is targeting Coca-Cola, Delta, UPS, Home Depot, and others, is starting to pick up steam. On Tuesday night, Stacey Abrams talked about the importance of corporations publicly opposing voter suppression legislation in Georgia and around the country. Abrams spoke on a call organized by her organization, Fair Fight, and More Than A Vote, a voting rights organization founded by LeBron James.
Abrams' voice is particularly significant because her work organizing voters is credited for helping Democrats win in Georgia, secure the presidency and control the Senate. She is expected to run for Governor of Georgia in 2022. While many corporations have issued vague statements in support of voting rights, they have remained conspicuously quiet about specific proposals to restrict voting that are moving through the legislature. That appears to be slowly starting to change. This week, following the passage of a bill by the Georgia Senate that would end no-excuse absentee voting for anyone under 65, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce issued a statement in opposition:
Notably, many of the companies that have backed the donors of Georgia's voter suppression legislation are affiliated with the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Coca-Cola, Delta, UPS, and Home Depot are all participants in the Metro Atlanta Chamber's "Action for Racial Equality" project. While a statement by the Metro Atlanta Chamber is not the same as a statement from the companies themselves, it's a start. A filibuster fix?The flood of voter suppression legislation in Georgia, Arizona, and dozens of other states is a symptom of a larger problem. There is currently very little protection for voting rights at the federal level. In the 2013 case of Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court "struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by a 5-to-4 vote, freeing nine states, mostly in the South, to change their election laws without advance federal approval." Earlier this month, the Supreme Court considered a challenge to another part of the Voting Rights Act that could weaken the law even further. It's not a certainty that states like Georgia or Arizona will approve voter suppression legislation this year. But until there are more robust protections at the federal level, it's just a matter of time. Civil rights icon John Lewis, who was nearly beaten to death protesting for voting rights, died last year. But the late Congressman authored the voting rights provisions of the For the People Act, which was passed by the House earlier this month. Under that legislation, "states would be required to automatically register eligible voters, hold at least 15 consecutive days of early voting for federal elections and provide drop boxes for absentee ballots." It would also "make it far easier to vote by mail and far harder to purge voters from the rolls." The House plans a separate vote on another piece of legislation authored by Lewis, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore the pre-clearance provisions struck down by the Supreme Court. Both bills, however, face an uphill battle in the Senate. Although Democrats control the chamber, most legislation still requires 60 votes to advance. It would be difficult to find one Senate Republican, much less 10, to protect voting rights at the federal level. The simplest solution would be just to scrap the Senate's legislative filibuster entirely, which would only require 51 votes. But two Democratic Senators, Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) are adamantly opposed to eliminating the filibuster. Without Manchin and Sinema, the filibuster isn't going anywhere for at least the next two years. But there are hints that Manchin and Sinema could support modifications to the filibuster rules that might make passage of the voting rights legislation more attainable. "The filibuster should be painful,” Manchin said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. “We’ve made it more comfortable over the years, not intentionally; maybe it just evolved into that. Maybe it has to be more painful. Maybe you have to stand there." Requiring a "talking" filibuster would significantly weaken its power to obstruct legislation. People can talk for a long time but, eventually, they'll need to stop. And once they do, legislation like the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act could get an up-or-down vote. There are other tweaks that could have a similar impact. For example, instead of requiring 60 votes to break a filibuster, you could require a three-fifths majority of Senators that are present. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that Biden's "preference is to not make changes to the filibuster rules." That leaves the door open to changes in the filibuster, especially if Republicans continue to obstruct action on voting rights. |
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Major corporations announce opposition to voter suppression bills in Arizona
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
State Capitol Building in Phoenix, Arizona. Last November, Biden secured a narrow victory in Arizona, flipping a state that Trump had won four years earlier. Republicans in the Arizona legislature have
The white to vote
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Georgia has allowed no-excuse absentee voting for all elections since 2005. It was part of a voting bill passed that year by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law by the Republican
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Monday, March 8, 2021
Following the riot at the Capitol on January 6, dozens of major companies — including Amazon, AT&T, Disney, Microsoft, and Walmart — announced they were suspending PAC contributions to the 147
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Thursday, March 4, 2021
Yesterday, Popular Information published an in-depth investigation on the corporate cash behind the Georgia legislators pushing voter suppression legislation. The report revealed that major
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Wednesday, March 3, 2021
A billboard in Atlanta, sponsored by Coca-Cola, honoring the life of Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), a civil rights icon who fought to expand voting rights. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
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