Kenneth Frazier, CEO of Merck, the pharmaceutical giant with sizable operations in West Point, is among the Black executives who are urging corporations to fight GOP-led legislation that limits voting access for Black citizens in several states, write Te-Ping Chen and Cameron McWhirter for The Wall Street Journal.

These efforts come after civil-rights advocates spent days criticizing Georgia-based companies that they had not done enough to push back against the state’s new restrictive voting law.

The group of 72 Black executives, including Upper Gwynedd-based Frazier, signed an open letter that was published in a full-page New York Times ad earlier this week. In the letter, they called on companies and business leaders from throughout the nation to sway the legislative debate.

Frazer noted that in addition to Georgia, dozens of other states have been considering similar legislation and that now was the time for companies to act.

“This is not a Georgia issue,” he said.

Kenneth Chenault, CEO of American Express, agreed that the matter was a concern for everybody.

“This is a nonpartisan issue, this is a moral issue,” he said.

Read more about Kenneth Frazier in The Wall Street Journal.