Biden: ‘Reassuring’ to see companies speak out against voting laws

President Biden on Tuesday credited private companies with speaking up in opposition to new voting laws being passed in Georgia and elsewhere while warning about the impact on workers when businesses leave, calling on states to “smarten up.”

Biden was asked at a White House event on vaccinations whether The Masters golf tournament should relocate out of Augusta, Ga., in response to the new Georgia law, which experts say makes it more difficult for minorities in particular to vote.

“I think that’s up to The Masters,” Biden said. “It is reassuring to see that for-profit operations and businesses are speaking up about how these new Jim Crow laws are just antithetical to who we are.”

“There’s another side to it, too,” Biden continued. “The other side to it, too, is when they in fact move out of Georgia, the people who need the help the most, people who are making hourly wages, sometimes get hurt the most.”

“I think it’s a very tough decision for a corporation to make or a group to make, but I respect when they make that judgment,” he added. “And I support whatever judgment they make. But the best way to deal with it is for Georgia and other states to smarten up and stop it.”

Biden’s comments came as several companies have spoken out against the Georgia voting law, and after Major League Baseball moved its All-Star Game out of the state to Colorado.

Georgia-based companies like Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola have also criticized the law, which expands early in-person voting hours, requires additional voter ID to complete mail-in voting, reduces the number of ballot drop boxes in some locations, and makes it a crime for anyone other than election workers to provide food or water to people standing in line.

The criticism has sparked blowback from Republicans, led by former President Trump, who have called for supporters to boycott products made by companies that have waded into the debate.

Conservatives have also argued the decision to move the MLB All-Star Game will do more harm than good as it will negatively impact the Atlanta area’s tourism industry and workers in the area.

The pressure to speak out against restrictive voting laws has grown in other states considering laws to overhaul elections. American Airlines and Dell, both of which are headquartered in Texas, have opposed GOP proposals in the state that would limit access to the ballot.