Coalition of businesses pen open letter against Texas voting laws

A collection of large businesses and another group of business executives have written open letter against what they call "voter suppression" in Texas.

A group of businesses calling themselves "Fair Elections Texas" have written an open letter to Texas law makers urging them to not implement "any changes that would restrict eligible voters’ access to the ballot." Another letter by over 100 Houston executives calls out 2 election laws by name which are currently traversing the Texas state legislator.

The group of businesses include HP, Microsoft, Unilever, Salesforce, Patagonia and Sodexo, as well as local companies and small businesses. The "Fair Elections Texas" letter does not name the election laws in question but calls on the state legislator to work within its powers not to constrict voting rights.

Previously the only companies to speak out against the voting laws were American Airlines and Dell Technologies, which was met by a harsh backlash by legislators in Austin, the state's capital. This new wave of corporate activism is hopefully that the combined influence may have an impact on the minds of decision makers.

"We stand together, as a nonpartisan coalition, calling on all elected leaders in Texas to support reforms that make democracy more accessible and oppose any changes that would restrict eligible voters’ access to the ballot," the letter reads. "We urge business and civic leaders to join us as we call upon lawmakers to uphold our ever elusive core democratic principle: equality."

These letters represent a continued push for corporate activism by groups like Black Lives Matter. Sen. Mitch McConnell has asked corporate executives to "stay out of politics" while Sen. Marco Rubio responded to the statements by calling them "woke corporate hypocrites." There has yet to be a coordinated response from Texas Republicans to these new letters.