德克萨斯州奥斯汀——尽管商界领袖越来越多地警告说，这些措施可能会损害民主和经济气候，但全国各地的共和党议员正在努力收紧投票法。
50多家公司和商业组织，包括德克萨斯州的一些公司和商业组织，周二发布了一封公开信，表示反对“任何可能使该州更难投票的变革”。这封信由美国航空公司、微软公司、惠普公司、巴塔哥尼亚公司、列维·斯特劳斯公司和其他公司签署，正值立法投票之际，批评者称，立法将给少数族裔和残疾选民带来不成比例的负担。
“我们认为投票权是神圣的。当更多的人参与我们的民主进程时，我们都会繁荣昌盛，”信中说。"自由企业的发展与其公民的自由直接相关."
声明没有表明反对德克萨斯州提出的具体立法。尽管如此，这相当于对立法者的谨慎指责，他们利用前总统唐纳德·特朗普关于选举被盗的虚假说法，使投票更加困难。
德克萨斯州正在成为投票法斗争的下一个主要战场。德克萨斯州众议院最早可能在本周就一项针对哈里斯县的法案进行投票，哈里斯县是休斯顿的所在地，也是民主党的中心。2020年，在冠状病毒大流行的背景下，哈里斯县的官员大幅扩大了投票选择。德克萨斯州参议院提出了自己的一揽子计划，两院可能会向一个妥协委员会提出最终版本。
共和党州长格雷格·艾伯特表示广泛支持这一努力。
德克萨斯州将紧随共和党领导的其他州，包括佐治亚州、爱荷华州和佛罗里达州，共和党州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯预计将在这些州签署上周通过的投票法案。周一，堪萨斯州共和党领导的立法机构否决了民主党州长批准投票法的否决。亚利桑那州也在考虑立法，俄亥俄州的共和党人预计将在本周提出一揽子建议。
法案的细节因州而异，但遵循类似的模式，使人们更难通过邮件或缺席投票。虽然两党选民长期以来一直使用这些方法投票，但民主党人在2020年更有可能远程投票——这一事实刺激了共和党的镇压。
在德克萨斯州，一项措施将取消免下车投票，去年休斯顿周围超过127，000人在早些时候投票时使用了免下车投票。一些民主党人估计，超过一半的选民是黑人、拉丁美洲人或亚裔美国人。共和党人还希望给予党派投票观察者更大的自由，并把选举官员向没有申请邮件投票的家庭发送邮件投票申请定为重罪，就像哈里斯县在疫情期间所做的那样。
民主党一直在推动企业利用他们的影响力来影响辩论——尽管企业在卷入党派斗争方面存在分歧。迄今为止，公司发布的声明几乎没有破坏与投票相关的提议，并在共和党人和他们曾经的企业盟友之间造成了裂痕。
自称为“公平选举德克萨斯州”的德克萨斯州企业在声明中使用了非常谨慎的语言，宣称选举应该“方便、透明和安全”，这是对共和党人坚持认为他们的议程是防止欺诈和增强选民对选举结果的信心的认可。
与此同时，该组织呼吁“所有当选的领导人”要“让民主更容易获得”，并表示他们“反对任何限制合格选民投票的改革”。"
总部设在得克萨斯州的快餐连锁店P-Terry's Burger Stand的首席执行官托德·策尔弗说，旨在改变美国投票法的立法“浪潮”使该公司很容易签署这封信。
策尔弗说，让投票变得更容易是特里公司文化的一部分。他补充说，在11月的选举中，餐馆会组织拼车，这样该公司900多名主要是少数族裔的员工就可以去投票箱了。他们可以利用公司的时间来投票。
“对我们来说，这不一定是一个政治声明，”策尔弗说。"我们认为这与其说是一个政治问题，不如说是一项人权倡议。"
当格鲁吉亚成为第一个采取全面改革的州时，它成为了选举程序的一个国家热点。在关键条款中，该州现在将要求选民身份申请，然后投缺席票，取代签名匹配计划。与2020年的数字相比，佐治亚州官员还有效地限制了市区县的投票箱。
该法案签署后，总部位于佐治亚州的德尔塔航空公司和可口可乐公司批评了该法案，激怒了共和党人。面临2022年连任的共和党州长布莱恩·坎普(Brian Kemp)大声抨击美国企业屈服于“取消文化”。
亚利桑那州的企业游说活动更加低调，共和党人正在推动一系列选举法案。他们在州议会中的微弱多数是否足以采取重大变革，还有待观察。
特朗普在德克萨斯州和佛罗里达州击败了民主党人乔·拜登(Joe Biden)，但民主党人在最近几个周期继续缩小德克萨斯州的党派差距，佛罗里达州仍是战场，促使两个州的共和党人寻求新的限制。
特朗普的盟友德桑蒂斯预计将签署一项措施，收紧缺席投票的选民身份要求。受旅游业影响很大的佛罗里达州的商业游说团体大多保持沉默，该州的一些共和党人指出，加大缺席投票的难度可能会适得其反，因为这种做法在各种政治派别的老年佛罗里达人中已经根深蒂固。
共和党的努力甚至延伸到特朗普以无争议的优势获胜的州。在堪萨斯州，共和党人本周否决了民主党州长劳拉·凯利(Laura Kelly)对一项法案的否决，该法案将使个人和团体更难收集缺席选票并将其提交给选民。特朗普以15个百分点的优势赢得了堪萨斯州的10多张选票，现在有人收集并返还这些选票将是轻罪。
在俄亥俄州，特朗普两次以近两位数的优势获胜，共和党人将公布一项一揽子计划，该计划将取消一天的提前投票，提高选民身份证要求，并禁止在除地方选举办公室以外的任何地方放置投票箱。但是俄亥俄州的共和党人辩称，他们还包括了两党选举委员会和投票权组织倡导的其他条款。
Despite business warnings, GOP moves ahead with voting bills
AUSTIN, Texas -- Republican lawmakers around the country are pressing ahead with efforts to tighten voting laws, despite growing warnings from business leaders that the measures could harm democracy and the economic climate.
More than 50 companies and business organizations, including some in Texas, released an open letter on Tuesday expressing opposition to “any changes” that would make it harder to vote in that state. The letter — signed by American Airlines, Microsoft Corp., HP Inc., Patagonia, Levi Strauss & Co. and others — comes amid votes on legislation that critics say would place disproportionate burdens on minority and disabled voters.
“We believe the right to vote is sacred. When more people participate in our democratic process, we will all prosper,” the letter said. “The growth of free enterprise is directly related to the freedom of its citizens."
The statement stopped short of stating opposition to the specific legislation proposed in Texas. Nonetheless, it amounts to a cautious rebuke of lawmakers using former President Donald Trump’s false claims about a stolen election to make it harder to vote.
Texas is emerging as the next major battleground in the fight over voting laws. The Texas House could vote, as soon as this week, on a bill that effectively targets Harris County, home of Houston and a Democratic hub, after officials there dramatically expanded voting options in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Texas Senate has advanced its own package, with the two chambers likely headed to a compromise committee that would fashion a final version.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed broad support for the effort.
Texas would follow other GOP-led states, including Georgia, Iowa and Florida, where GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign voting legislation passed last week. On Monday, Kansas' Republican-led legislature overrode the Democratic governor's veto to approve a voting law. Arizona is also considering legislation, and Republicans in Ohio are expected to introduce a package of proposals this week.
The details of the bills vary state to state but follow a similar pattern of making it harder for people to vote by mail or absentee. While voters of both parties have long used those methods to cast ballots, Democrats were more likely to vote remotely in 2020 — a fact that has spurred the GOP crackdown.
In Texas, one measure would eliminate drive-thru voting, which more than 127,000 people around Houston used during early voting last year. Some Democrats estimate that more than half of those voters were Black, Latino or Asian American. Republicans also want to grant partisan poll watchers wider latitude and make it a felony for an elections officer to send mail-voting applications to households that didn’t request them, as Harris County tried to do during the pandemic.
Democrats have been pushing businesses to use their clout to influence the debate — although businesses have been divided over diving into the partisan battle. Statements issued by companies have done little so far to derail voting-related proposals and have opened up rifts between Republicans and their onetime corporate allies.
The Texas businesses, calling themselves Fair Elections Texas, used notably careful language in their statement, declaring that elections should be “convenient, transparent and secure,” a nod to Republicans' insistence that their agenda is about preventing fraud and shoring up voter confidence in election results.
At the same time, the group called on “all elected leaders” to “make democracy more accessible” and said they “oppose any changes that would restrict eligible voters' access to the ballot.”
Todd Coerver, CEO of the Texas-based fast food chain P-Terry's Burger Stand, said the “groundswell” of legislation aimed at changing voting laws across the U.S. made it easy for the company to sign onto the letter.
Making voting easier is part of P-Terry's culture, Coerver said, adding that during the November election, restaurants organized ride-sharing so the company's more than 900 mostly minority employees could get to the ballot box. And they could use company time to vote.
“For us this was not necessarily a political statement,” Coerver said. “We see it as less of a political issue and more as a human rights initiative.”
Georgia became a national flashpoint over election procedures when it became the first state to adopt an overhaul. Among the key provisions, the state now will require voter identification to apply for and then cast absentee ballots, replacing a signature match program. Georgia officials also effectively limited ballot drop boxes in metro-area counties when compared with the 2020 numbers.
After the bill was signed, Georgia-based Delta Air Lines and The Coca-Cola Co. criticized the bill, angering Republicans. Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who faces reelection in 2022, has loudly blasted corporate America for yielding to “cancel culture."
Corporate lobbying has been more muted in Arizona, where Republicans are pushing a slate of election bills. It remains to be seen whether their narrow statehouse majority will be enough to adopt significant changes.
Trump prevailed over Democrat Joe Biden in Texas and Florida, but Democrats have continued to narrow the partisan gap in Texas in recent cycles and Florida remains a battleground, spurring Republicans in both states to pursue new restrictions.
DeSantis, a Trump ally, is expected to sign a measure that would tighten voter ID requirements for absentee ballots. The business lobby in Florida, heavily influenced by the tourism industry, remained mostly mum, and some Republicans in the state noted that making it harder to cast absentee ballots could backfire since the practice is so well-established among older Floridians across the political spectrum.
The GOP effort even extends to states where Trump won by uncontested margins. In Kansas, Republicans this week overrode the veto of Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, on a bill that would make it harder for individuals and groups to collect absentee ballots and deliver them for voters. It will now be a misdemeanor for someone to collect and return more than 10 ballots in Kansas, which Trump won by 15 percentage points.
In Ohio, where Trump won twice by nearly double digits, Republicans are set to unveil a package that will eliminate a day of early voting, increase voter ID requirements and prohibit placement of ballot drop boxes anywhere but at a local elections office. But Ohio Republicans argue they're also including other provisions that bipartisan elections boards and voting rights groups have advocated.
