Facebook to pay employees to work Election Day polls in growing trend, Zuckerberg says

TJ Macias
·2 min read

Facebook announced Friday that employees will be allowed to take extra paid time off to serve as poll workers in the upcoming Election Day, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post. He also announced that the company will be holding a recruitment drive this weekend aiming to get at least 4 million of the platform’s users registered to vote.

“We’re less than two months away from the U.S. elections, and we are seeing a massive shortage of poll workers to staff voting stations,” Zuckerberg said. “Shortages can lead to hourslong waits at the polls, which makes it harder for people to participate in the democratic process. It is estimated that almost half a million poll workers will be needed this year — especially due to the ongoing COVID pandemic.”

Facebook is joining other tech companies including Apple, Twitter and Uber in allowing employees to take time off to vote or work the polls on Tuesday, November 3, CNBC reported. Big Tech is following organization Civic Alliance’s effort, which announced that more than 60 of its member companies will encourage employees to serve as poll workers, Vox said.

Old Navy, which is one of Civic Alliance’s member companies, announced on Sept. 1 that it too will be paying its employees to work the polls, McClatchy News reported.

“The brand is tapping into its vast service-minded associate base, with 50,000 field employees in more than 1,000 store locations in the U.S., encouraging them to apply to serve in their communities, and giving them the means to do so,” a news release said.

In addition to the recruitment drive, Facebook will also send notifications to users who are 18 and older about how to sign up as poll workers in their areas, according to Axios.

“This recruitment drive is part of Facebook’s larger voting information campaign, with the goal to help 4 million people register and vote,” Zuckerberg’s post said. “Priscilla (Zuckerberg’s wife) and I have also personally donated $300 million to non-partisan organizations supporting states and local counties in strengthening our voting infrastructure. Voting is voice, and in a democracy, it’s the ultimate way we hold our leaders accountable and make sure the country is heading in the direction we want.

With COVID affecting our communities, this election will be unlike any other we’ve seen. We are doing everything we can to help as many people as possible register and make their voice heard at the ballot box.”