Thirty Michigan CEOs, including those of General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Blue Cross Blue Shield and Quicken Loans, are speaking out against a state GOP effort to restrict voting rights.
Voting restrictions would be added under proposed legislation. (File photo)
A package of 39 bills changing various aspects of voting procedure in Michigan, all sponsored by Republicans, is making its way through the Legislature, although Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has promised to veto anything that reaches her desk.
As a parallel measure, other state Republicans, including party chairman Ron Weiser, said they plan a petition drive to bypass the governor and enact the legislation with an up-or-down vote of the legislature, controlled by Republicans.
To this effort, Michigan business leaders are responding with a "shot across the bow," The New York Times reports:
(The) executives said election laws “must be developed in a bipartisan fashion to preserve public confidence.”
In a joint statement, the companies’ leaders warned against passing laws that reduce voting by “historically disenfranchised communities, persons with disabilities, older adults, racial minorities and low-income voters.’’
The solidarity is consistent with what happened in Georgia after the legislature passed, and Gov. Brian Kemp signed, similar bills to restrict voting in that swing state, which came into the national spotlight after President Trump lost it by 11,779 in November. After Kemp signed, the CEOs of Delta Airlines, Coca-Cola and other Georgia-based businesses criticized the move, and Major League Baseball abruptly announced the relocation of this summer's All-Star Game, from Atlanta to Denver.
Any petition drive to bypass Whitmer would require 340,047 voter signatures (10 percent of the total vote in the last gubernatorial election).
