Beto, Castro join civil rights groups in pressuring Texas companies to oppose voter suppression
This morning, a number of prominent voting and civil rights organizations gathered virtually to announce a new campaign geared toward Texas-based corporations to speak out against voter suppression bills making their way through the Texas legislature. The campaign is not only calling on companies to stop funding Republican legislators that are supporting Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 6, but also to vocally announce they do not support voter suppression efforts.
The press conference was convened by the Texas Voting Rights Coalition and included statements from MOVE Texas, Black Voters Matter, Texas Organizing Project, Texas Civil Rights Project and the Barbara Jordan Leadership Institute. Beto O’Rourke, who traveled to the Texas State Capitol to testify against HB 6, and Julián Castro also spoke at the press conference.
This latest move comes after American Airlines became the largest Texas-based company to announce their opposition to voter suppression bills in Texas. Several of the speakers specifically called out Dallas-based AT&T for their silence in the wake of voter suppression legislation.
Cliff Albright from Black Voters Matter, which is based out of Georgia but has several statewide chapters, cited the corporate accountability campaign that took place in his own state after the governor signed sweeping legislation targeting the right to vote, which prompted Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola to belatedly issue statements against that legislation. “If AT&T can convince folks to upgrade a phone every few months, certainly they can convince folks that voter suppression is bad,” Albright said. He also mentioned companies with a national profile should be speaking out in favor of voting rights legislation, like H.R. 1, which recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
Read more: https://texassignal.com/beto-castro-join-civil-rights-groups-in-pressuring-texas-companies-to-oppose-voter-suppression/