Black Business Leaders Urge Corporations to Fight Election Integrity Efforts

A group of prominent black business leaders is urging corporations to take a stand against election integrity efforts pursued in several states, contending there is “no middle ground.”

Seventy-two black business leaders, led by former American Express chief executive Kenneth Chenault and Merck chief executive Kenneth Frazier, signed a letter urging corporate America to fight against state election laws, such as Georgia’s recently passed S.B. 202, which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has described as an “illegal voter suppression law.”

“There is no middle ground here,” Chenault (pictured) said, according to the New York Times. “You either are for more people voting, or you want to suppress the vote.”

“This impacts all Americans, but we also need to acknowledge the history of voting rights for African-Americans,” Chenault continued. “And as African-American executives in corporate America, what we were saying is we want corporate America to understand that, and we want them to work with us.”

According to the outlet, the executives did not single out companies but instead broadly urged corporate America to “use their clout, money, and lobbyists to sway the debate with lawmakers.”

Frazier also expressed disappointment over the lack of pushback prior to the Georgia bill becoming law.

“There seems to be no one speaking out,” he said. “We thought if we spoke up, it might lead to a situation where others felt the responsibility to speak up.”

“The Georgia legislature was the first one,” he told the outlet. “If corporate America doesn’t stand up, we’ll get these laws passed in many places in this country.”

Per the Times, signers include:

Roger Ferguson Jr., the chief executive of TIAA
Mellody Hobson and John Rogers Jr., the co-chief executives of Ariel Investments
Robert F. Smith, the chief executive of Vista Equity Partners
Raymond McGuire, former Citigroup executive
Ursula Burns, a former chief executive of Xerox
Richard Parsons, a former chairman of Citigroup and chief executive of Time Warner
Tony West, the chief legal officer at Uber

The left has continued to promote a stream of false narratives regarding Georgia’s recently passed election integrity law, which does not reduce Election Day hours and actually expands access for early voting. President Biden said such state laws make “Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle,” and other prominent Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), have expressed similar sentiments.

In reality, Georgia’s measure, specifically, doubles the amount of early voting on the weekends, providing consistency across all counties, as Heritage Action pointed out:

Earlier today, @SenSchumer made several false comments about SB 202 going through the Georgia Legislature.

We're more than happy to #FactCheck the Senator and help him understand why SB 202 makes it easier to vote but harder to cheat.

See the CORRECT reforms below👇 #GAPol pic.twitter.com/qFI5JQGHxq

— Heritage Action (@Heritage_Action) March 24, 2021

Even the Washington Post issued Four Pinocchios to President Biden after he falsely asserted Georgia’s law compromised the ability of working-class Americans to go out and vote.

Despite that, the left has continued to falsely characterize Georgia’s election law as suppressive, prompting a lawsuit from the ACLU, which claims the measure violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

A recent National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) poll found a majority of likely voters support basic election integrity measures, such as requiring a valid ID to vote.

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