Thousands of companies give workers paid time off to vote on Election Day
14% of voters don't cast ballots because they're too busy: 2017 survey
Thousands of companies and businesses are allowing their employees to take time off on Election Day to cast ballots and are offering incentives to workers who volunteer at polling sites.
Time to Vote, a nonpartisan coalition of businesses that aims to increase voter participation in the U.S. elections, is backed by more than 1,800 companies.
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“The need has never been greater for businesses to provide their employees dedicated time off to vote,” Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal, one of the three companies that founded Time to Vote in 2018, said in a statement. “No American should have to choose between earning a paycheck and voting.”
A Pew Research survey in 2017 revealed 14% of voters said they don't vote because they're too busy or have conflicting schedules.
To combat that challenge, companies such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Bank of America, and Deloitte -- which are all part of the coalition -- will offer concessions such as making Election Day a paid company holiday, giving paid time off and actively promoting early voting and vote-by-mail for employees.
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“The Time to Vote coalition’s commitment to give employees time off to vote, especially now when the challenges are so dire, can address one of the biggest barriers to voter participation,” Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, Democracy Fellow at the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, said in a statement.
Tory Burch and dozens of other companies are paying employees for time spent volunteering as poll workers on Nov. 3.
Another voting initiative, Power the Polls, partnered with more than 70 companies to encourage volunteering efforts at the polls.
The group signed up 350,000 people to volunteer, surpassing its initial goal of 250,000, the Wall Street Journal reported.