Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald, American Airlines, JetBlue and United Airlines were among the members of the travel industry to sign a statement opposing "any discriminatory legislation or measures" that restrict or prevents people from voting.
"Voting is the lifeblood of our democracy, and we call upon all Americans to join us in taking a nonpartisan stand for this most basic and fundamental right of all Americans," read the statement, which along with hundreds of signatories ran as an ad titled "We Stand for Democracy" that was published Wednesday in the Washington Post, New York Times and other major newspapers.
Among the other signatories were Warren Buffett; Ken Chenault, the former CEO of American Express; Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck; and corporations including Amazon, Google and Netflix. The ad comes in the aftermath of the controversial Georgia voting law that opponents say makes it harder for people to vote.
While Donald was a signatory to the statement, Carnival Corp. was not. Delta Airlines, which is headquartered in Atlanta, did not sign the ad, although CEO Ed Bastian issued a public memo to employees earlier this month saying the Georgia law "is unacceptable and does not match Delta's values."
Wednesday's ad was organized by Chenault and Frazier, who along with Donald were also among 72 Black executives who took a similar stand in a statement issued by the Black Economic Alliance on March 31. That statement read in part: "As Black business leaders, we cannot sit silently in the face of this gathering threat to our nation's democratic values and allow the fundamental right of Americans, to cast their votes for whomever they choose, to be trampled upon yet again We call upon our colleagues in corporate America to join us in taking a non-partisan stand for equality and democracy. Each of us stands ready to work with you on what can and must be done."