U.S. companies urge workers to vote
As Election Day in the U.S. draws closer, companies are heeding the stark warnings about potential voter suppression and reduced polling locations and are being proactive to help facilitate what is expected to be a chaotic 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Companies like Twitter and Apple are giving workers paid time off to get to the ballot box, while Starbucks and Old Navy are urging their staff to volunteer at local polling places.
Other companies are taking a different approach…
Businesses like Nike, Abbot Laboratories, and Qualcomm along with 800 others plan to participate in a CEO-led bipartisan activist group called Time to Vote, which encourages companies to give employees at least a few hours off to vote.
Starbucks - concerned with Black voter suppression - is urging its over 200,000 U.S. employees register to vote from its mobile app.
Starbucks Chief Executive Kevin Johnson said in an internal memo on Aug. 27 (quote) “No (employee) will have to choose between working their shift or voting on or before Election Day.”
Rules securing time off for workers to vote vary by state.
During these times, mail-in voting has emerged as an alternative for some, but partisan battles over expanding mail-in voting have threatened to snarl the political process.
President Donald Trump for months has railed against voting by mail citing unfounded fraud concerns and last week encouraged supporters to vote twice, once by mail and again in person, compounding the confusion ahead of Election Day.
According to a voter survey by Pew Research, nearly half of voters fear difficulties with voting in the U.S. presidential elections.
