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What is the values-driven position of the case protagonist? To be…
What is the values-driven position of the case protagonist? To be clear, the protagonist is Delta CEO Ed Bastian in this case.
What position is the protagonist trying to promote?
What is at stake or at risk for the key parties, including those who disagree with the protagonist?
What is at stake for the protagonist?
What are the main arguments the protagonist is trying to counter? That is, what are the reasons and rationalizations he or she needs to address?
What can the protagonist use to influence those who disagree and/or how can the protagonist reframe the decision so as to respond to expected objections and concerns?
What are the most powerful and persuasive responses to the reasons and rationalizations the protagonist needs to address? To whom should the argument be made? When and in what context?
Article
As Ed Bastian pondered SB 202, or the Election Integrity Act of 2021 of the State of Georgia, he decided to re-read the many sources of public information on Delta Air Lines (Delta), the company he has led as CEO since 2016. He also re-analyzed the specifics of SB 202, making sure he fully understood its implications on Delta and its various stakeholders. Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and he knew that the public would reference and understand his decision on this sensitive matter against the backdrop of their declared values.
Delta Air Lines
His initial source is the company’s fact sheet found on their “News Site”:
“NO ONE BETTER CONNECTS THE WORLD
More than 4,000 Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) flights take off every day, connecting people across more than 275 destinations on six continents with a commitment to industry-leading customer service, safety and innovation. As the leading global airline, Delta’s mission is to create opportunities, foster understanding and expand horizons by connecting people and communities to each other and their potential.
Delta’s more than 80,000 employees believe our customers should not have to choose between seeing the world and saving the planet. Delta is working toward more sustainable aviation by leveraging existing solutions and technologies, investing in the future of sustainable aviation fuel and actively engaging with next-generation solutions.
Our people lead the way in delivering a world-class customer experience, and we’re continuing to ensure the future of travel is personalized, enjoyable and stress-free. Our people’s genuine and enduring motivation is to make every customer feel welcomed and respected across every point of their journey with us.
Delta is America’s most-awarded airline thanks to the dedication, passion and professionalism of its people, recognized by Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, and Business Travel News, among many others.
Delta has served as many as 200 million customers annually. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta operates significant hubs and key markets in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Seoul-Incheon and Tokyo. Powered by innovative and strategic partnerships with Aeromexico, Air France-KLM, China Eastern, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, and planned joint ventures with LATAM* and WestJet*, Delta brings more choice and competition to customers worldwide.
Whether it’s transporting life-saving pharmaceuticals, organs for transplant, fresh flowers, seasonal produce or beloved pets, Delta Cargo provides world-class service, offering industry-leading shipping solutions and transporting on average 2.2 billion cargo ton-miles** every year.
Delta believes social responsibility lies at the intersection of our values and expertise, which is why we return 1% of the company’s annual profits to the communities where we live, work and serve. Even more importantly, Delta people are making a difference in their communities by devoting their time and talents to a wide array of Delta’s nonprofit and charitable partners.”
As CEO he was particularly proud of his efforts at advocating for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the business world. He remembered saying that “Thoughtful action combined with a focus on championing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and within our personal lives will play a healing role to help us keep climbing. The Delta family will use whatever means we have to move the world toward a better, more just tomorrow.” The company’s efforts include initiatives that support Gender (including LGBTQ+) Equality, Anti-Racism and Violence, Disability Inclusion and Supplier Diversity, among others.
To his credit, and that of everyone else in the management team, the DEI efforts of Delta have been recognized by many outside groups. The following is a list of awards that the company has received related to its DEI initiatives:
Forbes – Best Employers for Diversity
Disability:IN and The American Association of People with Disabilities – Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion
Glassdoor – Best Places to Work
Glassdoor – No. 1 Highest-Rated Company for Career Opportunities for Black Employees
Great Place to Work® and Fortune – Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For
Great Place to Work® and Fortune – Best Workplaces for Diversity
Great Place to Work® and Fortune – Best Workplaces for Women
Great Place to Work® – Best Workplaces for Millennials
Nomi Network – Corporate Social Responsibility Award
Indeed – Top-Rated Workplaces for Veterans
Corporate Responsibility Magazine – 100 Best Corporate Citizens
Human Rights Campaign Foundation – Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality
Women’s Business Enterprise National Council – Top Corporation for Women Business Enterprises
Veterans of Foreign Wars – Americanism Award
Glassdoor – Employees’ Choice Award
SB 202
SB 202, or the Election Integrity Act of 2021 of the State of Georgia, made several important changes to the state’s electoral processes that were brought about by “…record turnout and an unprecedented shift towards mail-in voting because of the coronavirus pandemic.” Exhibit 1 contains a summary that details these changes and is found at the end of this case.
The Publicity Statement
Bastian knew he had to tread carefully on this issue. Following passage of SB 202 by the Georgia General Assembly, Bastian released the following publicity statement that, he hoped, reflected the careful and deliberate thought process that he put into this matter:
“Delta believes that full and equal access to voting is a fundamental right for all citizens. Over the past several weeks, Delta engaged extensively with state elected officials in both parties to express our strong view that Georgia must have a fair and secure election process, with broad voter participation and equal access to the polls. The legislation signed this week improved considerably during the legislative process, and expands weekend voting, codifies Sunday voting and protects a voter’s ability to cast an absentee ballot without providing a reason. For the first time, drop boxes have also been authorized for all counties statewide and poll workers will be allowed to work across county lines. Nonetheless, we understand concerns remain over other provisions in the legislation, and there continues to be work ahead in this important effort. We are committed to continuing to listen to our people and our communities, and engage with leaders from both parties to ensure every eligible employee and Georgia voter can exercise their right to vote.”
EXHIBIT 1
Georgia Public Broadcasting Explains SB 202
Changes to absentee voting
Mail-in absentee voting will look the most different for voters, especially after 1.3 million people used that method in the November (2020) general election. Voters over 65, with a disability, in the military or who live overseas will still be able to apply once for a ballot and automatically receive one the rest of an election cycle. But the earliest voters can request a mail-in ballot will be 11 weeks before an election instead of 180 days less than half as much time.
The final deadline to application is moved earlier, too. Instead of returning an application by the Friday before election day, SB 202 now backs it up to two Fridays before. Republican sponsors of the bill and local elections officials say this will cut down on the number of ballots rejected for coming in late because of the tight turnaround.
Counties will also begin mailing out absentee ballots about three weeks later than before, starting four weeks before the election.
Requesting and returning a ballot will also require new ID rules: either your driver’s license number, state ID number or, if you don’t have those, a copy of acceptable voter ID. The law also allows for applications to be returned online, after the Secretary of State’s office launched an online request portal using your driver’s license number or state ID number ahead of November’s general election.
Poll workers will use that information, plus your name, date of birth and address, to verify your identity, and you will sign an oath swearing that everything is correct. This is a change from recent procedure that would check your signature on the application with those on file.
State and local governments are no longer allowed to send unsolicited applications, and third-party groups that send applications have new rules to follow, too. Their applications must be clearly marked as being “NOT an official government publication” that it is “NOT a ballot,” and must clearly state which group is sending the blank request.
Plus, third-party groups are only allowed to send applications to voters who have not already requested or voted an absentee ballot. The groups potentially face a penalty for each duplicate sent.
The actual absentee ballot and envelopes will look different, as well. SB 202 requires absentee ballots to be printed on special security paper, and your precinct name will now be included along with precinct ID printed at the top. Once you fill out your choices by filling in the circles for your choices, you will place it in an envelope that will have your name, signature, driver’s license or state ID number (or last four digits of your Social Security number) and date of birth. The envelope will be designed so that sensitive personal information will be hidden once it is sealed.
Military and overseas voters will have an additional set of absentee ballots mailed to them with their regular ballots ranked choice instant-runoff ballots. Georgia’s runoffs will now be four weeks long instead of nine weeks, but federal law requires ballots to those voters be sent out by 45 days before a federal election. So now, those voters will be given these ranked choice ballots, where they rank their choices for certain races in the event they head to a runoff, and send them back with their primary or general election ballots.
Secure absentee ballot drop boxes which did not exist a year ago are now officially part of state law, but not without some new changes. The law now requires all 159 counties to have at least one drop box, caps the number of boxes at one per 100,000 active voters or one for every early voting site (whichever is smaller) and moves them inside early voting sites instead of outside on government property. Additionally, the drop boxes will only be accessible during early voting days and hours instead of 24/7.
The State Election Board authorized drop boxes using the emergency rule process because of the coronavirus pandemic, and even that process is now being tweaked. The board must provide more notice of proposed emergency rules and has a much more limited scope in which it can enact those rules.
Changes to early voting
One of the biggest changes in the bill would expand early voting access for most counties, adding an additional mandatory Saturday and formally codifying Sunday voting hours as optional. Counties can have early voting open as long as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at minimum. If you live in a larger metropolitan county, you might not notice a change. For most other counties, you will have an extra weekend day, and your weekday early voting hours will likely be longer.
If you live in Fulton County, you’ll no longer be able to use one of two mobile voting buses the county purchased last year to help with long lines. While a 2019 omnibus allowed early voting sites to be more locations, including places that are normally election day polls, the Republican-led legislature has now written laws that expressly prohibits a mobile poll except during an emergency declared by the governor.
For polling place changes or closures, the law now requires better notice of those changes, including a 4-by-4-foot sign that shows where the new location is.
Another new rule that affects both in-person early voting and election day voting would prohibit anyone except poll workers from handing out water to voters in line, and outlaw passing out food and water to voters within 150 feet of the building that serves as a poll, inside a polling place or within 25 feet of any voter standing in line. Depending on the location, it is still possible for third-party groups to have food and water available and it is possible for the lines to extend beyond 150 feet.
During early voting, counties must publicly report daily how many people have voted in person, how many absentee ballots have been issued, returned, accepted and rejected. Early voting sites and times must be published publicly ahead of time.
For runoffs, things would be tighter: the law says early voting should start “as soon as possible” after a primary or general election, and requires in-person early voting the Monday through Friday before the election. This means counties may not be able to offer weekend early voting depending on how quickly it takes them to finish the first election and prepare for the second.
Changes to vote counting
Among complaints about the 2020 election was how long it took for some counties to release their final vote totals, how others missed batches of ballots the first time and general confusion about why the process is not over on election night.
A change local officials embrace is a section that allows them to begin processing, but not tabulating, absentee ballots starting two weeks before the election. There’s extra incentive to do so, by way of a new requirement that counties count all of the ballots nonstop as soon as polls close and finish by 5 p.m. the next day or potentially face investigation.
Plus, local officials are required to post and report the total number of ballots cast on election day, during early voting, via absentee voting and provisional ballots, all by 10:00 p.m. on election night, essentially providing the public with a denominator to understand the total possible votes out there as results trickle in.
Speaking of provisional ballots, out-of-precinct provisionals will not count anymore unless cast after 5 p.m. and a voter signs a statement saying they could not make it to their home precinct in time.
Now that counties must finish tabulating all the votes by 5 p.m. the day after the election, lawmakers moved up their election certification deadline to six days after polls close instead of 10.
Absentee ballots will be checked using the ID information voters write on the outside envelopes instead of their signatures, another departure from previous policy.
Changes affecting local elections offices
One change buried in the bill would give county elections officials greater flexibility with voting equipment for smaller, lower-turnout races. Previous law requires one ballot-marking device per every 250 active voters. Statewide general elections would still require that ratio, but any other election would be subject to the local elections officials’ discretion, based on expected turnout, the type of election, number of people that have already voted and more.
Counties will also have to provide better notice of public logic and accuracy testing of voting machines and equipment, where officials calibrate every piece of technology used in the election. The dates and times should be on the county’s website, if they have one, a local newspaper and in a prominent place within the county. Plus, the secretary of state’s office must keep a master list and make it public.
In the 2020 election, many rural and urban counties received grant funding from philanthropic outlets such as the Center for Tech and Civic Life and the Schwarzenegger Institute. Under the new law, those elections offices could no longer directly receive funding. But the State Election Board is slated to propose a method to receive donations and distribute them equitably by October 2021.
Another change that was proposed last year and is now law would require large polling places with long lines to take action if wait times surpass an hour at certain times during the day. Those massive polls with more than 2,000 voters and wait times longer than an hour would have to hire more staff, add more workers or split up the precinct after that election. More than 1,500 of Georgia’s precincts have over 2,000 voters.
After the 2020 election cycle saw an influx of partisan poll watchers who sometimes interfered with vote counting, the GOP-backed bill requires poll watchers be trained before allowing them to work, and gives local officials the authority to set where those watchers can observe from.
Poll workers, in short supply for the June 2020 primary because of the pandemic, may now serve in adjoining counties.
Scanned ballot images will now be subject to public records disclosures, and the secretary of state’s office shall
pilot program for posting those images online as well.
Changes affecting the State Election Board
While most Georgians don’t directly interact with the State Election Board, several changes made by the Republican legislature could have an impact on local elections offices.
The secretary of state will no longer chair the State Election Board, becoming instead a non-voting ex-officio member. The new chair would be nonpartisan but appointed by a majority of the state House and Senate. The chair would not be allowed to have been a candidate, participate in a political party organization or campaign or made campaign contributions for two years prior to being appointed.
The law also says the governor should appoint someone if the position becomes vacant when lawmakers are not in session.
Other changes to the State Election Board’s powers would give the board and by extension, the legislature more power to intervene in county elections boards that are deemed underperforming. In addition to the legislature-appointed chair, the five-member board is made up of one member appointed by the House, one appointed by the Senate and one each picked by the Democratic and Republican state parties.
The State Election Board, county commissions or a certain number of state House and Senate members that represent a county could request an independent group to conduct a performance review of their appointed elections board or probate judge that supervises elections, defined in Georgia law as the “superintendent.” SB 202 would allow the State Election Board to suspend the multi-person elections board or probate judge and replace them with a single individual for at least nine months.
The election superintendent is responsible for everything from certifying results, handling polling place changes and hearing challenges to voters’ eligibilities something that SB 202 clarifies that must be heard in a timely manner after being filed and can include an unlimited number of challenges.
The board could only temporarily suspend up to four election superintendents at a time.
Other changes
There are other more intangible changes that will not directly impact how you vote. For example, the law says the Attorney General’s office shall have the authority to set up a hotline for people to file complaints about voter intimidation and “illegal election activities,” including anonymous tips. That section also says the AG’s office shall have the authority to review the complaints within three business days (or as “expeditiously as possible”) and determine if the complaint should be investigated.
The State Election Board and secretary of state’s office would not be allowed to enter into any settlement agreements for election lawsuits without notifying lawmakers first. New language for certain judicial vacancies or candidates who die before election day has been added and the legislature has reiterated the state should be part of a multi-state voter registration database.
In addition to the shortening of the runoff period, SB 202 would end so-called “jungle primary” special elections, requiring a special primary before a special election.
Because of the delays in the 2020 census, the law also allows some of the municipal boundary line redrawing to wait until after upcoming elections.
REFERENCES:
https://news.delta.com/delta-statement-sb202
https://news.delta.com/corporate-stats-and-facts
https://www.delta.com/us/en/about-delta/diversity
https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/03/27/what-does-georgias-new-voting-law-sb-202-do
