The leaders of several of Minnesota’s largest employers including Cargill, Medtronic, 3M, Best Buy, Target, and C.H. Robinson have spoken out against nationwide voting suppression efforts, and have reaffirmed their support for the fundamental freedom to vote. The support comes in response to legislative efforts that have been introduced in 47 states that would interfere with the ability of voters to cast their ballot.
“Minnesota’s business community knows that restricting the right to vote is bad for our country and bad for business, and I applaud them for speaking against suppression and in favor of the fundamental right to vote,” said Senator Jim Carlson (DFL-Eagan), ranking DFL-lead of the Senate State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee. “We should be expanding accessibility and access to the ballot, not restricting it.”
Best Buy issued a statement urging legislators to “vote no” on laws that “make it more difficult for eligible Americans to cast a ballot.”
In their statement, Cargill said “We are opposed to any attempts to restrict eligible Americans’ access to the polls or create barriers that discriminate and further silence the voices that need to be represented, especially Black Americans. We will always advocate for equity and human dignity for our employees in each state, including voting rights, so all may be fairly heard.”
The business roundtable, which includes C.H. Robinson and 3M, said “Over the course of our nation’s history, the right to vote was hard fought for so many Americans, particularly women and people of color. We call on elected officials across the country to advance voting rights by continuing efforts to provide greater access to voting and encourage broad voter participation.”
Former American Express CEO Ken Chenault, stated to the New York Times, “there is no middle ground. You are either for more people voting or you want to suppress the vote.”
In Minnesota, one of the most egregious election proposals would impose provisional ballots, which could delay or prevent more than 250,000 ballots cast on Election Day from being counted.
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