Voting 'ought to be easier than ever', says Tim Cook in wake of Georgia law change

By Stephen Warwick
published

Tim Cook
Tim Cook (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • Tim Cook has weighed in on recent changes to voting legislation in Georgia.
  • He has told Axios that the right to vote is fundamental to democracy and that American history is the story of expanding that right to all citizens.
  • He also said that because of technology, Apple believes voting should be easier than ever.

Tim Cook has said that voting "ought to be easier than ever" in response to a new Georgia voting bill.

As reported by Axios:

Apple CEO Tim Cook, an Alabama native with a lifelong interest in civil rights, joins condemnations of Georgia's new voting law, in a statement provided first to Axios.

In the statement Cook reportedly said:

"The right to vote is fundamental in a democracy. American history is the story of expanding the right to vote to all citizens, and Black people, in particular, have had to march, struggle and even give their lives for more than a century to defend that right."Apple believes that, thanks in part to the power of technology, it ought to be easier than ever for every eligible citizen to exercise their right to vote "We support efforts to ensure that our democracy's future is more hopeful and inclusive than its past."

As Axios notes, the statement comes following a new Georgia bill brought into law last week:

Almost a week after a bill that curbs voting access in Georgia became law — and nearly one month after it passed the state's House — a slew of corporations have come out against voter suppression.

Cook and Apple join other companies and corporations in speaking out against the law. Microsoft has stated "We are concerned by the law's impact on communities of color, on every voter, and on our employees and their families." and that it shares the views of other companies that it is "not only right but essential" that the business community should "stand together in opposition to the harmful provisions and other similar legislation that may be considered elsewhere." Other companies that have added criticism, as tracked by Axios, include American Express, Cisco, and Delta Airlines.

Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9

25 Comments
  • How about Tim Cook and iMore just stick with technology subjects and news.
  • Why does it matter, most of us are never going to vote anymore ever again
  • Everyone should automatically get registered when they are of legal voting age and provide everyone an ID (although they claim they don’t have the infrastructure to do this which is a joke). You pretty much need an ID for everything anymore anyway so would love to know actual numbers of people who supposedly don’t have an ID. Oh and make it a holiday so that people can vote and not use the “have to work excuse” to skip out on voting.
  • I've thought about the Holiday thing a bit and agree in concept. There are even holidays that we could give up to make that happen (Columbus day?). The problem is that the people who generally have a hard time getting off to vote, likely are the same that don't get paid holidays in the first place.
  • I understand that, but even if they made it a holiday (and got paid), people would still find an excuse to use to not go out and vote.
  • 21 million Americans do not have ID.
  • Guess they don't do pretty much anything because an ID is needed for just about everything. Even more reason to beef up the infrastructure to get ID's to people (again who most are too lazy to go and get an ID in the first place).
  • Can we also make sure there are controls over how IDs are issued? The DMV has very loose guidelines as it is.
  • I find that statistic very hard to believe an unless you have a credible source I call BS. Now if you are an illegal immigrant (20-35 million in this country now) you won't have an ID but you aren't supposed to vote anyway.
  • Why? You also have to be a non-citizen and not a felon. People also change addresses. Most state voter roles have non-citizens, dead people, and felons on them. I believe the opposite. I think voter rolls should be purged every three years completely and everyone should re-register to vote proving residence in their county/state which can be done with a state issued ID (which are free) and proof of citizenship which could be a passport, birth certificate, social security card, naturalization papers. That way voter rolls are up to date AND accurate that will reflect people who have moved out of state or changed address within a state. With that control list - mail in or absentee ballot processes can be more secure.
  • Boy...that Tim Cook sure is compassionate. I mean, sure, he assumes people of color are incapable of getting state issued IDs, but that's not racist, all leftists believe that. And sure, he has no problem using slave labor, in factories that literally have protections to keep people from choosing to end their own lives rather than continuing to make products for Apple, but Tim cares. And sure, Tim has no issues with literal internment camps and the enslavement and near genocide of Uighurs, but Tim is just so caring. And while Tim may have helped China develop systems to punish citizens who break thought police laws, he cares about the oppressed. And sure, Apple may not want those who don't worship the extreme far-left using their devices, or having apps on their platform, and sure, he illegally conspired with Amazon and Google to bring down a platform that values free speech, while promoting a platform used to coordinate and orchestrate perpetual riots that cost billions of dollars throughout 2020, but Tim is such a caring guy. While we all know Tim is a perfect human, if there's one thing I would say to him, it would be...how about you take 5 minutes off per year from advocating for the extreme far-left, and figure out why I have to put a $1,000+ device in a protective case, and cover the screen with a protective cover, because your slave made products are so **** brittle?
  • Soft bigotry of low expectations has always been the mantra of the left, since LBJ decided to have Black Americans voting Democrat for the next 200 years. Black people were mostly Republican, and had more intact households pre-civil rights legislation.
  • It's extreme far-left to want voting access for everyone? You're a lost cause.
  • No - but establishing a process with no controls or secure processes is a far left wing idea because the radical left want to be able to execute as much fraud as they can with ballot stuffing, ballot harvesting, allowing illegitmate voters to vote (non-citizens, dead people). There is nothing radical or extreme about wanting effective controls over ballot chain of custody, IDs to ensure people who are voting are who they say they are and that only legitimate people vote. You cannot vote in a precinct where you don't live and you cannot be a non-citizen and vote.
  • Wow, the ring winger suppression brigade is here to put Tim Cook in his place. Until Trump, everybody agreed that access to voting was crucial. And throughout the whole election process what did we see? Kansas taking all the voting places in one town and move them to one place out of town that would require a long bus ride for anybody in town. We had ammosexuals running around with guns trying to intimidate people. And the only documented voter fraud was people trying to help Trump! Yeah, Tim Cook is wrong because he's liberal. And that's all they need to know.
  • Speaking truth to power? As usual we are right, you and those like you are wrong. There is, in no jurisdiction in any city, county, or state, Zero access to voting. If people are capable of going out and getting a license of ANY kind, then they can obtain a voter ID. Progressives like you LOVE to lump everyone into respective tribes, which gives us........yep! tribalism. Thats the point we are at right now. Slowly but surely, minorities are beginning to wake up. Black Americans are not some monolithic voting bloc, so now Democrats have targeted Latinos.
  • No one should vote unless they have an ID. No ID, NO VOTE. VERY SIMPLE. YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO BORROW A BOOK FROM LIBRARY WITHOUT A CARD, NO ID NO VOTE. ANYONE TRYING TO VOTE WITHOUT PROPER ID, ARREST & PROSECUTE‼️👮🏼‍♀️
  • Voter suppression is the moral stance when it comes to illegitimate voters. Every single illegal voter dilutes the vote of every legitimate voter, including minority voters. It’s also a fact that believing that minorities are incapable of obtaining voter IDs is purely racist. People really need to begin accepting the fact that minorities are capable human beings that don’t need to be treated as mental incompetents.
  • It ought to be easier in China, too, but you won't hear Tim Cook mention it - too many phones to sell. What an effing load.
  • Voting is easy - unless you are tremendously lazy. Corporate CEOs need to stick to their business. The new Georgia law is not that radical and does NOT "suppress the vote". Making sure there are internal controls over the chain of custody of ballots, asking for ID to request an absentee ballot - something you need to do to get into a government building, get government benefits, etc -is not repressive. Universal mail in ballots with outdated voter rolls lacks any internal control or security. Leaving a process that is open to fraud - and it is -- suppresses legitimate votes. Most of the world's nations do not do this. Why would we???
  • If Tim Cook wants to take a real moral stand - why not stand up for the Urghyrs who are being exterminated in China through forced rapes, abortions, and concentration camps. But Tim doesn't want to offend the Communist government that controls a significant portion of his supply chain. Focus on the business Tim - stop trying to be a moralist - it won't work.
  • People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. If it is "moral" to protest and boycott in your own country, then do the same in China and elsewhere - no moral equivocation of "it's better to stay engaged with the Chinese than to leave" because that is just capitalist BS for losing your supply chain and sales revenues.
  • No one has an issue with EASY! Just need to be SECURED and ACCURATE!
  • I really do wish someone could explain how requiring an ID to vote is racist. You need an ID to fly, buy alcohol, buy tobacco, cash a check, buy a car, buy insurance, buy a house etc. The only thing I can think of is liberals love to cheat and requiring an ID means you can not cheat as easily. And I so wish Tim would stay out of stuff like this. Either concentrate on Apple or quit and do you social justice thing.
  • Showing up to a polling place with an ID card every two years isn’t hard. It’s more important for voting to be secure than easy. The act of voting means nothing if the integrity is lost.