March 31 was the end of the 2021 General Assembly but it was the start of a battle between some corporate CEOs and Republicans that included Gov. Brian Kemp, state legislators and members of Congress. It centers around the passage and signing into law of election reform legislation that stipulated, among other things, signature verification of absentee ballots be eliminated and replaced with a photo ID stipulation. 

The passage triggered opposition from Georgia Democrats, prodded by left-wing organizations (especially egged on by failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams) and their media allies. The liberal  New York Times helped led the charge with an inflammatory article “Corporations, Vocal About Racial Justice, Go Quiet on Voting Rights” that shamed corporations for supporting “racist” legislation and quoted activists calling for “quiet” companies to be boycotted. 

Delta CEO Ed Bastian

The furor even has led Major League Baseball to consider pulling  the scheduled 2021 All-Star game out of Atlanta based on the leftist groups’ protests. 

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian, who had endorsed the legislationquickly flip-flopped after it was signed into law and said the new law was somehow “based on a lie.” That brought a stern rejoinder from Kemp, who wondered if Bastian had even read the legislation. GOP House Speaker David Ralston also chided Bastian by threatening to have the Legislature remove Atlanta-based Delta’s lucrative fuel tax exemption. The speaker also mocked Coca Cola by openly drinking a Pepsi and blasting its CEO James Quincy for echoing Bastian’s attack on the law. 

GOP Congressman Drew Ferguson also waded into the fray with a letter to Bastian pointing out what is in the law. The letter reads in part: 

Following your misinterpretation of the new election law, I wanted to outline a few facts: 

Voters will be able to vote by absentee ballot with no excuse, unlike in New York where Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport infrastructure upgrades. 

  1. Large precincts will be required to add voting machines and election personnel to shorten voting lines.
  2. Early voting days are increased to include two mandatory Saturdays instead of one and the option of two Sundays for all localities, unlike Delaware where there are zero mandated days of early voting.
  3. Voter ID requirements — supported by 74% of Georgia voters, including 63% of Black voters — simply call for either a driver’s license or free state ID number.
  4. Drop boxes, never utilized before the pandemic, are preserved and will be available in every county at early voting sites to ensure the integrity of the process.
  5. Drinking water is not banned in voter lines as has been reported, it just can’t be distributed at the polls by groups advocating for votes. 

By the way, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had to print a correction after echoing the false narrative the far-left has been pushing about the law. In response, a statement from the Georgia Republican Party said “it is apparent that the AJC staff continues to report on SB 202 without having fully read the bill in question. If they had, they would read that SB 202 not only expands early voting opportunities in Georgia, but it gives more access to voters than President Biden’s home state of Deleware.

Indeed, Georgia Republicans of virtually all stripes found something to unite them this week: The misinformation from the activist left and segments of the media, and the surrender of some Georgia CEOs to false narrative.

In addition, some leading Georgia Democrats – including influential African-American leader Bernice King–  are opposing any boycott of Georgia companies and the state even though they don’t like the law. 

Login

Lost your password?