Coca-Cola Rips GA Voter ID Law but Required Photo ID to Get Into 2020 Shareholder Meeting
The Coca-Cola Company is being accused of hypocrisy for being heavily critical of Georgia’s new election reform laws, as the company itself required photo identification at its shareholder meeting last year.
Georgia Republicans were under intense pressure to make reforms to the state’s voting laws following the 2020 election cycle, when President Joe Biden won the state’s 16 electoral votes.
This resulted in the creation of SB 202, an election integrity law aimed at making state elections safer and more reliable.
So GA’s election law:
– Expands weekend voting
– Makes mail-in drop boxes permanent
– Allows food & water (bans “linewarming”)
– Requires voter ID (GA provides free ID)
– Makes absentee window longer than some lib statesLiterally everything Dems say about this law is false.
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) April 1, 2021
“At the entrance to the meeting, we will verify your registration and request to see your admission ticket and a valid form of photo identification, such as a driver’s license or passport,” Coca-Cola wrote last year prior to the shareholder’s meeting, Fox Business reported.
Seemingly oblivious to his company’s past actions, the Atlanta-based soda brand’s CEO and chairman James Quincey released a statement on Wednesday condemning the new changes to Georgia voting practices.
“Voting is a foundational right in America, and we have long championed efforts to make it easier to vote,” Quincey said.
[firefly_poll]
“We want to be crystal clear and state unambiguously that we are disappointed in the outcome of the Georgia voting legislation. Throughout Georgia’s legislative session, we provided feedback to members of both legislative chambers and political parties, opposing measures in the bills that would diminish or deter access to voting,” he continued.
We believe voting is a foundational right in America and access should be broad-based and inclusive. Learn More: https://t.co/Cidf8CyNUb pic.twitter.com/giiAKerkK3
— The Coca-Cola Co. (@CocaColaCo) March 26, 2021
Other companies and leagues that situationally require identification have also released statements, such as American Airlines and Major League Baseball.
NEW: American Airlines tells a Twitter user that they won’t get rid of their ID requirement, after they condemned Georgia’s new voter ID laws pic.twitter.com/iB1aqUdatV
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 5, 2021
MLB and Democrats, it looks like you have struck out with your hypocrisy. pic.twitter.com/7KCW6xUcnA
— GOP (@GOP) April 6, 2021
Even taking it a step further than Coca-Cola, MLB announced that the 2021 All-Star Game will be played in Denver, as opposed to Atlanta, as a result of the new Georgia legislation.
.@MLB took the #MLBAllStarGame away from a city where 46% of all businesses are minority owned & is about to move it to a city where only 23% of all businesses are minority owned
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) April 6, 2021
MLB unsurprisingly requires photo identification to pick up tickets from will call, adding fuel to the fire of hypocrisy these businesses and associations have started.
So let me get this straight,
The MLB is so woke that they took the All Star game from one of the largest minority communities in America and gave it to a rich white community in a less diverse state? A state that has #VoterID laws? Got it! #cancelculture https://t.co/sAJCqqtjfi
— Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) April 6, 2021
It is, unfortunately, becoming increasingly common practice for corporations to release statements about controversial pieces of legislation, in hopes that it will make them come across as socially conscious to consumers — but it often results in a fierce backlash, as Americans point out the obvious double standard.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
