Major foodservice and retail companies, including Starbucks, DoorDash, Ben & Jerry’s are among the 160+ American corporations that signed a letter to Congress in support of amending the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to further protect voting rights.
The letter was sent out on the heels of a growing wave of GOP-backed voting legislation that would restrict voting, like the Texas bills that were introduced this month that add identification requirements for voting by mail and ban drive-thru voting and extended hours during early voting.
Although the letter does not mention specific current bills, the text makes clear that the group of employers does not support the latest restrictions being introduced and passed nationwide by conservative legislators.
“The election highlighted deep inequities in how our elections are run. Despite decades of progress, impediments to exercising the right to vote persist in many states, especially for communities of color,” the letter reads. “We need federal protections to safeguard this fundamental right for all Americans.”
In a letter to Starbucks employees, CEO Kevin Johnson outlined why he believed it was important for Starbucks to sign the letter urging Congress to consider action.
“The right to vote is core to our Democracy,” Johnson said, noting Starbucks’ policies to help create voting plans for employees. “The struggle for civil rights and racial equity in America exists in every aspect of our society, and the democratic process is no exception. We believe that voting should be free of discrimination of any kind.”
The list of foodservice and food retail companies that signed the letter includes:
- Mars, Incorporated
- Mom’s Organic Market
- Ben & Jerry’s
- Mondelez
- Nestle
- PepsiCo
- Clif Bar & Company
- Danone
- Sameem Afghan Restaurant
- DoorDash
- Starbucks
- Hershey
- Unilever
