Corporations Are Not People

The opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect opinions or positions held by Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western MA.

Delaware law is now enabling artificial entities (corporations) to infiltrate town constitutions and elections. In Newark (Delaware’s third largest city) one property manager voted 31 times in a local referendum in 2018, one vote for each of their companies.  

In Seaford, HS.1 may be scheduled for a Delaware House vote in June 2023. It would change the Seaford Constitution to allow a representative from each artificial entity to vote in municipal elections. Only 340 people voted in the last municipal election and there are currently 234 businesses that own property in Seaford.

If HS.1 passes, corporations could have seventy per cent of the voting power that residents have. Seaford already permits nonresident property owners to vote in its municipal elections.

Such precedents could lead to new court rulings. Picture the future, with Elon Musk voting in all 192 cities nationwide where Tesla operates.

Corporations were established for the sole purposes of doing business and making money. Those are corporate priorities. Human priorities are eating, shelter, living, loving, and raising families. CEOs are human and they should get one vote in the town they call their residence, just like everyone else. 

Giving corporations voting rights is a logical and dangerous extension of decisions like Citizens United, in direct violation of the American democratic principle of “one person, one vote”. Every time this country expands the concept that “artificial entities are people” we move one step closer to destroying our democracy and taking away the rights of human beings.