Do Corporations Have a Role in Getting out the 2020 Vote?

With the 2020 Presidential Election just around the corner, voting paraphernalia, media campaigns, and the like are hard to avoid. Now, Corporate America is jumping on the voting bandwagon. Some companies, like designer fashion brand Tory Burch, are donating proceeds from limited-edition “VOTE” branded merchandise to get-out-the-vote programs. (Kate Kelly and Sapna Maheshwari, New York Times). Restaurant chain Shake Shack is giving away free French fries to all customers that vote early. (Id.).

What’s new this year is Corporate America’s unified and cohesive push to ensure employees have the time, resources, and opportunity to vote. (Squawk Box, CNBC). Nearly 3,000 employers have organized a million employees to volunteer as poll workers and provided paid time off (“PTO”) on November 3, 2020. (Id.). For example, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are providing their employees with varying times of PTO in order to vote; Best Buy is planning to close stores until noon to give employees an opportunity to vote; PayPal is compensating employees that volunteer at polling places with a paid half day. (Kate Kelly and Sapna Maheshwari, New York Times). Other companies are taking a more active role by donating their specialized advice to local election boards or voting-oriented non-profits and organizing voter education programs for their employees. (Id.).

Corporate America’s civic conscience isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon. In 2018, major retailers Patagonia and Levi Strauss founded Time to Vote. Time to Vote’s mission is for a non-partisan corporate effort to be made “that demonstrates the power of what the business community can achieve when it works to address the most significant issues of our time.” (About, Time to Vote). In July, seven Boston area companies founded a similar initiative called A Day for Democracy. The platform urges corporations to “Take the Pledge” and has provided its 371 corporate members with resources on voter registration assistance, mail-in ballot assistance, and election reminders for their employees. (Pledge, A Day for Democracy). Time to Vote, in particular, recognizes that companies have the exclusive power to “ensure that their employees have a work schedule that allows them time to vote” and they’re not exaggerating (About, Time to Vote). Retail alone is the second biggest private-sector employer in the United States, after healthcare. (Kate Kelly and Sapna Maheshwari, New York Times). For hourly workers, like those in the retail industry, finding the time to vote is difficult, often requiring shift coverage, waiting in long lines at polling stations during lunch breaks, and trying to reach the polling stations before they close. (Id.).

While not necessarily new, corporate civic responsibility has dramatically increased participation in this election cycle. (Kate Kelly and Sapna Maheshwari, New York Times). Just two years ago, Time to Vote included 400 corporate members. Today, the organization’s membership is more than four times that with members ranging from the likes of corporate giant Deloitte to the online plant retailer Bloomscape. (Our Members, Time to Vote). So, what’s changed? Though thirty states legally require employers to provide time off to employees on election day, many corporate executives cite the country’s recent civil unrest and national protests as the catalyst. (Shayanne Gal and Grace Panetta, Business Insider). Peter Palandjian, Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation, indicated that “The Black Lives Matter and the civil unrest has been a call to arms for CEOs in terms of informing corporate behaviors and civic actions.” (Kate Kelly and Sapna Maheshwari, New York Times). Starbucks Chief Executive, Kevin Johnson, cited concerns of systemic racism and voter suppression when he urged the company’s 200,000+ employees to register to vote through the Starbucks app. (Richa Naidu, Reuters).

Whatever the motivation, corporate voting initiatives have an enormous reach. Corporate get-out-the-vote initiatives not only influence consumers but directly control the voting capabilities of the country’s workforce. With Corporate America on its side, the 2020 election may see record-setting voter turnout.