Voting bill attracts corporate criticism
Top Texas companies decry proposed rules
Some of Texas’ most influential companies are criticizing a package of proposed changes to state election laws that civil rights groups liken to Jim Crow, saying they are aimed at suppressing voting, particularly among minorities.
The bill approved by the Texas Senate on Thursday would limit early voting hours, prohibit drivethru voting and ban local election officials from sending vote-by-mail applications to voters unless specifically requested. A bill that combines the Senate and House versions is expected to reach Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk within weeks.
Among the Texas companies opposing the bill are American Airlines and computer-maker Dell.
Houston waste disposal firm Waste Management said in a statement that it supports elections that are open to all voters.
“Integrity and equal access for all are critical to a healthy voting system and our democracy,” spokeswoman Janette Micelli
said.
The Houston oil and gas company Occidental Petroleum said that as part of the company’s values, it “supports transparent, non-discriminatory access to voting.”
“Participating in our democracy is an important part of community and civic engagement, and we not only encourage our employees to vote but ensure they are given the time they need to vote,” the company said.
Voting rights have become the latest partisan flashpoint as Republican state legislatures advance bills that would restrict access to the polls as Democrats who control Congress seek to pass federal laws to expand voting rights.
The Texas proposal mirrors others offered by Republican state legislatures that aim to change voting rules in the name of “election integrity,” following the 2020 presidential election in which then-President Donald Trump pushed a false narrative that the voting was marred by fraud. No evidence of any widespread voter fraud in the presidential election has been revealed, and U.S. election officials at the Department of Homeland Security called the vote the most secure in the nation’s history.
In Texas, the attorney general’s office last year logged 22,000 hours investigating claims of voter fraud, twice as much time as it did during the 2018 midterm elections, and resolving 16 prosecutions — half as many as two years ago, the Houston Chronicle reported in December.
‘Jim Crow 2.0’
A coalition of groups including Black Voters Matter, the League of Women Voters, the Barbara Jordan Leadership Institute, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce took out a full-page ad Wednesday in the Chronicle urging businesses to “stand against current attempts to pass voter suppression legislation that amounts to Jim Crow 2.0.”
Many of the organizations were unavailable for comment onFriday. But Rodolfo Rosales Jr., LULAC state director, called the Texas bills “voter suppression.”
“You had record numbers of Hispanics and African Americans voting like never before in Harris County and around the state, and all of a sudden, now, we have an issue with voter fraud,” Rosales said. “It’s blatant.”
The Greater Houston Partnership, the Houston region’s chamber of commerce, said in an email that it believes that the state’s voting process should instill confidence in the process and be “open and readily accessible by all.”
“We encourage our elected leaders, on both sides of the political aisle, to balance these two ideals, strengthening all Texans’ right to vote in free and fair elections,” the Greater Houston Partnership said.
The bill’s author, Sen. Bryan Hughes, a North Texas Republican, said in a video Thursday that the measure would make it “easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
“We had a long debate. Scores of amendments were offered, and at the end of the day, Texas passed a strong election integrity bill that we can be proud of,” Hughes said.
Critics say it’s part of a wider GOP campaign to suppress voting, particularly among Black Texans and Latino Texans, those with disabilities and young voters.
Fort Worth-based American Airlines on Thursday was one of the first major Texas corporations to openly oppose the proposed voting changes. “To make American’s stance clear: We are strongly opposed to this bill and others like it,” the carrier said in a statement.
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s response was equally sharp: “Texans are fed up with corporations that don’t share our values trying to dictate public policy.”
In Georgia’s footsteps
The Texas voter law proposal comes as Georgia’s largest companies are criticizing that state’s voting changes signed into law March 25 by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Georgia’s new election law includes an identification requirement for all mail-in voters. It also decreases the number of ballot drop boxes and bans volunteers from providing food and water to voters standing in lines to cast ballots.
The law first brought muted responses from two of Atlanta’s largest companies, Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, before the two corporations reversed course and lambasted the voting changes. Then on Friday, Major League Baseball said it would move this year’s All-Star Game and draft from Atlanta to a location outside of Georgia yet to be determined.
Houston is scheduled to host the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four in April 2023, though officials have not said the tournament location is in danger of being moved.
Hours after the Texas Senate bill was passed, a House committee began consideration of a similar proposal, House Bill 6, that would increase penalties for election fraud violations and impeding a poll watcher.
Michael Dell, founder of Austin-based Dell Computers, on Thursday tweeted his opposition to the House bill.
“Free, fair, equitable access to voting is the foundation of American democracy,” Dell tweeted. “Those rights — especially for women, communities of color — have been hard-earned. Governments should ensure citizens have their voices heard. HB6 does the opposite, and we are opposed to it.”