More than 50 companies and organizations have announced support for the Just Vote campaign, in an effort to do their part to help their employees engage in the US electoral process.
HeadCount, a non-partisan organization that helps people register to vote, developed the Just Vote campaign in partnership with Global Citizen. The campaign has already inspired thousands of people to check their voter registration status ahead of the 2020 US election.
The entities that joined the campaign this week have committed to give their workers time off in order to vote and share resources to help employees navigate the registration process.
Two Global Citizen partners — Verizon and Cisco — announced that they are establishing a new company-wide Election Day policy that supports their employees' civic participation.
A third Global Citizen partner — Procter & Gamble — has implimented a new paid day for civic engagement in order to give employees more flexibility to vote and volunteer in support of increasing civic engagement in their communities.
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The United States has some of the lowest voter participation rates among developed countries, according to the Pew Research Center.
“[About] 100 million eligible Americans didn’t show up to vote last election, so in the remaining weeks before this November’s election, we have to get creative in encouraging people to go to the polls,” Andy Bernstein, executive director of HeadCount, said in a press release.
About one in seven of the people who did not vote listed conflicting work schedules as the main reason for missing the polls, according to studies by Pew Research Center.
The Just Vote partners are leading voices in business, and the non-profit sector and therefore have the ability to help remedy the situation by encouraging employees to participate in their civic duty — by providing them with the necessary time off.
“We’re thrilled to have so many corporate partners who are committed to encouraging their staff to cast a ballot,” Bernstein said.
“We’re excited to see the non-profit and private sectors step up to encourage their employees to get involved in the democratic process,” Hugh Evans, co-founder and CEO of Global Citizen, said.
Companies and groups partnering with Just Vote include anchor collaborators Cisco, Procter & Gamble, Verizon, and the Wallace Global Fund, as well as Americares, Ace Hotel, American Alliance of Museums, Art Beyond Sight, Asian American Writers' Workshop, BlackStar Projects, Bridgespan Group, Brookings Institution, Campaign Legal Center, Catalyst Miami, Chobani, the Coca-Cola Company, Center for Democracy & Technology, Community Economic Development Association of Michigan, Common Justice, Crane Institute of Sustainability (Intentional Endowments Network), Constitutional Rights Foundation, CVC, Dangerous Speech Project, Delta Air Lines, Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Ford Foundation, Fountain House, Global Impact Investing Network, Global Tax Network, LLC, Heartland Coca Cola Bottling, Hunger Free America, Jobs for the Future, Lyft, National Disability Rights Network, National Women's Law Center, Net Impact, NEXUS, Osmosis, PEN America, Petco, Pioneer Works, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Saks Fifth Avenue, SoundCloud, Staff Smart Medical Staffing, LLC, Team Rubicon, Tectonic Theater Project, Theatre for a New Audience, Tony’s Chocoloney, True Colors United, Twitter, Vow - To End Child Marriage, Inc., Washington Office on Latin America, and Wells Fargo.
Artists and influencers like Alanis Morissette, Billie Eilish, Billy Porter, Lenny Kravitz, Loren Gray, Madison Beer, Nicky Jam, Prince Royce, Quavo, Shawn Mendes, Taylor Swift, Usher, and more have also joined the campaign to encourage young people to check their status and register to vote.