Salon: Big corporate donors claim to support racial justice — but fund Republicans pushing voting limits

Corporate America is taking a stand against new voting restrictions around the country, boycotting states that imposed harsh new laws and speaking out against proposed limits in others. But many top corporate political donors who have touted their commitments to racial equity and diversity have also funded the Republican lawmakers who are pushing bills aimed at making it more difficult to vote.

Three of the top five corporate donors to state lawmakers in Texas promoted their commitments to racial justice — but have also donated $493,000 to state senators who sponsored Senate Bill 7. That legislation would limit early voting and absentee voting while empowering partisan poll watchers and clearly targets Houston, the state’s densest population center, where a majority of voters are people of color, according to a new report from the left-leaning government watchdog Accountable.US.

Top corporate donors in Arizona, including defense contracting giant Raytheon, which made a $25 million commitment to help “racially and ethnically marginalized communities,” have donated $76,647 to three sponsors of state Senate bills that would limit mail-in voting and purge residents from voter rolls, as the state tilts blue as a result of quickly changing demographics.

Four of the top five corporate donors in Florida, including Disney, have contributed more than $230,000 to state legislators behind bills that would restrict mail-in voting and make it a crime to give water or food to voters in long lines — despite vowing their support for inclusion, racial equity and Black Lives Matter. …

Utility firms Exelon Corp. and Oncor and the tax firm Ryan LLC, the three biggest corporate donors in Texas behind Blackridge and AT&T, all expressed commitment to equality and diversity in the wake of the 2020 racial justice protests. Exelon even features a Black Lives Matter page on its website to highlight its “fierce commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity.” But the companies have given nearly a half-million to sponsors of SB 7, including some that have “troubling prior histories of racism, discrimination, or voter suppression,” according to the Accountable report. The voting bill has sparked concerns that lawmakers are targeting “innovations that were especially effective last year in reaching voters of color,” according to the Austin American-Statesman, and could contribute to a “surge in voter intimidation” by empowering partisan poll watchers.

“This bill is anti-democratic, anti-voter, and once again, demonstrates how far current leadership is willing to go to protect their own partisan interests,” the nonpartisan government watchdog group Common Cause Texas said in a statement.