After Boycotts and Backlash, Bastian Steps Back From Georgia Voting Bill Comments
Joe Cortez March 31, 2021
Public outrage over Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian saying Georgia’s controversial Senate Bill 202 “improved considerably” from previous versions is forcing the executive to walk back some of his opinions. In a new statement, the leader now says: “the final bill is unacceptable.”
When Georgia’s controversial voting overhaul was signed into law by Republican governor Brian Kemp, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the bill “improved considerably” during the legislative process. However, after the public called out the leader for his commentary and threatened a boycott, the executive slowly walked away from his comments. In a new memo attributed to Bastian, the leader is now calling the bill “unacceptable.”
“The final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values.”
Opening with a story about why the airline named a building about former board member, civil rights leader and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, Bastian was quick to denounce Senate Bill 202. Alongside other Atlanta-based businesses, he took credit for “eliminating the most suppressive tactics” that the bill proposed before its final stage.
“I need to make it crystal clear that the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values,” Bastian said in the memo. “The right to vote is sacred. It is fundamental to our democracy and those rights not only need to be protected, but easily facilitated in a safe and secure manner.”
In previous communications to employees, Bastian offered what many interpreted as praise for the passage of Senate Bill 202. The first memo attributed to the executive said the law “expands weekend voting, codifies Sunday voting and protects a voter’s ability to cast an absentee ballot without providing a reason.” In additional comments reported by Skift, Bastian told Delta’s workforce that “taking a stronger stand…would have made it much harder to shape the legislation at all.”
But days later, after #BoycottDelta began trending on social media, Bastian now says that he didn’t comprehend the potential impact of the law. The updated statement uses much stronger language, saying the legislation in its entirety was “based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections.”
“After having time to now fully understand all that is in the bill, coupled with discussions with leaders and employees in the Black community, it’s evident that the bill includes provisions that will make it harder for many underrepresented voters, particularly Black voters, to exercise their constitutional right to elect their representatives,” Bastian said in the memo. “That is wrong.”
Public Backlash Forces Several Companies to Change Course on Senate Bill 202
Delta isn’t the only Atlanta-based company now speaking out against the new voting laws after the public threatened boycotts against leading brands. Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA reports Atlanta’s major sports teams, Coca-Cola and Home Depot have now issued statements speaking out against the law.
Image courtesy: Shizuo Kambayashi | AP
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Nah, it's about accommodating people in difficult situations. The right to vote is one afforded to every citizen, regardless of whether they have "papers" or not. It should, as the legal system, work on "innocent until proven guilty"- you're assumed to have the right to vote unless it's obviously proven you don't. Also, plenty of evidence of the Dems' shouting has been uncovered, not so much with this.
Voting may be a right but if Americans lose faith in the integrity of elections we're lost as a country, Not so long ago Dems were screaming Russia, Russia, Russia without a shred of evidence. Funny how that bites you in the keister.
If you are saying that requiring ID to vote is making it more difficult to vote, you are an idiot. If someone can't figure out a way to get an ID, then they are to stupid to figure out how to vote or they are not interested in voting. The ONLY reason to be against ID for voting is because you want to make it easier to commit voter fraud. If you claim requiring ID is racist and/or voter suppression, you are being disingenuous and using incendiary language to make it sound like people who support voter ID are evil.
Voting is a right, plain and simple. Holding it up to the same standard as "many other tasks" which aren't clearly stated rights in and of themselves (and some of which will still accommodate you if you don't have ID) is trying to draw an equivalence where there is none.
What a coward! And apparently unable to read -- or didn't bother to read the actual law he's inveighing against. What an idiot! (By the way, if he's against photo ID, does that mean he'll no longer require it to board Delta flights?)