Women's Group: Coca-Cola and AT&T Are Complicit in Georgia's New Voter Suppression Law

Yesterday, Governor Brian Kemp's signed SB202, a new sweeping elections law that would add an ID requirement to absentee ballots, shorten runoffs in state elections and remove the secretary of state from county election boards, among other restrictions.

In response, Sonja Spoo, campaign director at UltraViolet, a leading national women's advocacy organization, issued the following statement calling out Coca-Cola and AT&T as complicit in voter suppression:

"Georgia's new extreme voter suppression laws were passed in part because companies like Coca-Cola and AT&T stayed on the sidelines as Republicans, many of whom have received large contributions from these companies, pushed them forward. This is simply another example of how Coca-Cola and AT&T don't live up to their own corporate values, despite mulimillion dollar PR machinations. These companies need to make clear if they stand with justice or whether they will continue to fund injustice that harms workers and consumers alike.

"Republicans have erroneously claimed the issue of 'voter fraud,' as a veneer to maintain power by stripping Black people and people of color of their voting rights for generations.

"By not speaking out, Coca-Cola and AT&T are complicit in gutting constitutional rights for people throughout Georgia state. This will have a particularly negative impact on women of color from deciding what happens in their own communities, just as Georgia legislators have manipulated the law to stop these same women from deciding what happens to their bodies.

"We demand that Coca-Cola and AT&T immediately stop donations to any Republican in Georgia who voted for SB202 and vow to never give to them again. Instead, we urge both companies to channel those donations into groups working to overturn or repeal SB202. Anything less is unacceptable."

Last year, UltraViolet led #ReproReceipts, a corporate accountability campaign targeting Coca Cola, AT&T, Disney, Nike, Procter & Gamble and Uber for donating to anti-choice politicians, highlighting the discrepancy between the companies' public statements in support of gender equity and their histories of political giving to extreme anti-choice candidates.