Nonpartisan,business-led effort aims to increase voter participation on Election Day
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – Companies across the United States are supporting the Time to Vote campaign, a nonpartisan effort led by CEOs, aimedat increasing voter participation. Collectively, CEOs from across the country and from a variety of industries are concerned about voter participation and have committed to encouraging their employees to vote in the upcoming elections.
The U.S. has one of the lowest voter participation rates in the developed world, recently as low as 36 percent, and one of the most common reasons that people give for not voting is that they are too busy, or have work and life demands that prevent them from voting. To change this paradigm, a diverse coalition of companies including Kaiser Permanente, Bambu®, LeviStrauss & Co., Patagonia, PayPal, and Tyson Foods are coming together, starting with the November elections, to increase voter turnout.
"It is our collective responsibility to participate in our democratic process. Voting is fundamental to that responsibility. We have spent many years in countries where there are no rights for citizens to express their preference in the political process. As company owners we should support our workplaces to participate," said Jeffrey Delkin, President of bambu.
The Time to Vote campaign also aims to increase awareness about the steps employers can take to allow time for their employees to vote. The companies joining this campaign are committed to increasing voter participation through programs such as paid time off, a day without meetings and resources for mail-in ballots and early voting. And all of them care about their workforces and supporting democracy.
“The purest expression of any person's freedom occurs in the voting booth - it is our collective moral duty as CEOs to accommodate every citizen in pursuing that privilege,” said Todd Carmichael, CEO of La Colombe.