Opinion: Your job shouldn’t stand in the way of voting

This op-ed by FCCF President & CEO, Mendi Blue Paca, was originally published on CTPost.com on September 23, 2024.

There are plenty of reasons that people give for not voting in elections.

Not being able to get time off work shouldn’t be one of them.

Yet a poll of 8,000 people conducted by FiveThirtyEight and Ipsos just ahead of the 2020 Presidential Election found that difficulty getting time off work was the second most cited reason people gave for not casting their vote.

Topping the list was “having to wait an hour or more to vote.” It’s fair to assume that some of those people ended up walking away rather than filling out a ballot because of work commitments.

With America’s elections held on Tuesdays instead of over the weekend, work is too often getting in the way of democracy.

But it doesn’t have to. Employers can play a key role in making sure they are breaking down barriers to voting, not creating them.

To reinforce this point, Connecticut’s Office of the Secretary of the State has launched the Civically Engaged Organization (CEO) nonpartisan pledge — a campaign that encourages business and organizational leaders to foster civic engagement among their workforce.

Leaders who commit to this simple pledge can reap considerable benefits for our society and communities — and their organizations. A growing body of research affirms that employees seek out and are more prone to stay at companies that value community and civic engagement.

By signing the pledge, organizations commit to giving employees time off to vote on election days, as well as posting and publicizing election dates and polling place look-up tools.

Organizations are also encouraged to email staff and/or customers the secretary of the state’s nonpartisan “Civics 101” guide and to also allow employees time to volunteer in the community each year.

And when it comes to elections specifically, a survey by the Weber Shandwick Collective of more than 1,000 voting age adults reflected that 68% of employees believe that businesses should give employees paid time off to vote. Roughly three out of four consumers and employees want businesses to encourage free and fair elections and similar majorities want businesses to keep the workplace politically neutral.

The CEO pledge is particularly important in Connecticut, a state that traditionally has had some of the most restrictive voting laws in the country.

That has begun to change with our state finally catching up to 46 others by creating in-person early voting, which kicked off ahead of last April’s primary election and will be an option for voters here starting on Monday, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Nov. 3.

Nevertheless, it will take time before voters become aware and accustomed to in-person early voting in our state. During last spring’s primary only 1.4% of Connecticut’s 1.2 million registered Democrats and Republicans voted early.

That means it’s safe to assume that most of Connecticut’s voters will rely on the 14-hour stretch between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Election Day to cast their vote.

Committing to the CEO pledge will help ensure that more of our citizens are able to participate in our democracy during that window without facing the pressure of choosing between casting their vote or facing challenges at work.

Here at Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, we have proudly signed the CEO pledge.

We encourage you to do the same.