As you’ve already heard from every pundit, 24-hour news network, morning show, publication and podcast, the next two days are going to make history. Â And as you’ve likely surmised, citizens of our great nation are extremely anxious about the outcome, no matter which candidate you support. Â So as organizations and employers, it is our duty and responsibility to encourage employees to participate in our democratic process and exercise their right to vote. Â Which begs the question – Are you encouraging employees to vote?
According to John Phillips, blogger/lawyer from The Word on Employment Law:
“Most states require employers to provide time for employees to vote on election day. While these laws vary in each state, they generally require employers to give employees time off to vote if the polls aren’t open two or three hours outside of the employee’s regular shift. Some of these states require that employers pay employees for time off while they are voting. Some states require employees to request time off from their employers in advance.”Â
Many employers were hoping that early and absentee voting might prevent a major disruption to business on November 4th.  Despite these concerns, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that organizations such as Coca-Cola, Home Depot and Atlanta Gas Light Company are encouraging employees to vote and use their best judgment for time and place. Â
The most innovative initiative I’ve found is The Vote Hour Project, an idea born from one person’s email to Google CEO Eric Schmidt asking him to record a message encouraging employees to get out and vote. Â 40+ other CEOs followed in kind, ranging from Tim Flynn of KPMG to Donald Trump. Â Check out their website if you need examples to work from. Â
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So why is this so important? Â The US Census Bureau found that in the 2004 Presidential Election, the number one reason cited for not voting was that people were “too busy” and had conflicting work schedules. Â Your encouragement can make all the difference, so whether it’s via an internal email, a video or simply word of mouth, let’s do everything in our power to enable employees to exercise their rights as citizens and vote in tomorrow’s election. Â It’s our duty to keep the conversation (and encouragement) going.Â
2 Comments
It’s wonderful these CEOs are taking the message seriously.
This leads to this problem: long lines and our voting system. It’s not going to be pleasant tomorrow seeing a bunch of long lines. Early vote might have helped a little, but I do think an overhaul of the votng system must change to have more areas for people to vote. I do hope CEOs take that into consideration.
@Tracy Tran – I hear you Tracy, and I think tomorrow will take much longer than an hour for us to get through the machinery of the current system. I suspect that this experience will lead to litigation and resulting change in the future.