USA: Hundreds of companies oppose controversial electoral reforms

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Protests against electoral reform in Georgia

Photo: imago stock / imago images / ZUMA Wire

After the US election was lost, the Republicans in southern Georgia recently pushed through a dubious electoral reform.

Hundreds of US business leaders, organizations and billionaires have now publicly criticized it.

"In order for US democracy to work for each of us, we must ensure the right to vote for each of us," said a two-page advertisement that appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post on Wednesday.

With the electoral reform in Georgia, the number of mailboxes for voting papers will be limited.

The mailboxes should only be in buildings and access times should be limited.

In the 2020 elections, they were accessible 24 hours.

In addition, identity checks for postal votes will be expanded.

Republicans argue that the reform would make the elections safer and better protected from fraud.

Critics see this as discrimination against, in particular, Afro-American voters.

Dozens of states want similar reforms

Politicians in dozen other states have announced similar reforms.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, MPs in 43 states have tabled more than 250 bills that would make voting difficult.

"We should all feel responsible to defend the right to vote and to oppose any discriminatory legislation or measure that prevents any eligible voter from having an equal and fair chance to vote," said the appeal on Wednesday.

The ad was signed, among others, by the heads of the investment bank Goldman Sachs, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and the Google parent company Alphabet as well as Michael Bloomberg and Warren Buffett.

Will Smith relocates film production

Actor Will Smith also canceled the production of his film "Emancipation" in the state in protest.

A major baseball game was moved from Georgia's capital, Atlanta, to Denver.

And the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola company also criticized the law.

In return, the former US President Donald Trump called for a boycott of the products of companies that opposed the reform.

The southern state of Georgia was one of the most competitive states in the 2020 US presidential election.

Thanks to a high turnout, especially among African-American voters, President Joe Biden narrowly prevailed over Donald Trump.

Biden's adversary has repeatedly spoken of electoral fraud in Georgia and other states without any evidence.

mfh / AFP