We here at BillTrack50 strongly believe voting is important and we are proud to support of Employee Voter Registration Week. We are sharing this guest post by BIPAC to provide you with some background on the initiative and to give you the information you need to get involved. –Karen
Best Practices for Encouraging Employees to Vote
Each even-numbered year (and sometimes in the odd ones), we’re asked to head to the polls and cast our vote for the men and women who will decide policy at the local, state, and federal levels. This sounds like a lofty ask and with every state having their own dates, deadlines, and guidelines for voting, our country’s election system can be difficult to navigate. That’s why it’s important that companies, trade associations, and other business organizations make resources available to their employees, members, or other stakeholders to make it easy for them to participate and so that they can become educated before going to the polls.
Whether someone needs to register to vote, update their registration, look up their polling place, or find their candidates, it’s crucial they have the tools at their fingertips to do so. Many organizations provide these tools through a government affairs website and share key information through email.
Employees appreciate being provided this information and want to hear from their employer about issues and elections. According to the BIPAC 2016 Employer to Employee Engagement Study:
When conducting voter registration and education activities it’s important to keep a few things in mind:
- Never tell an employee how to vote. Instead provide them resources they can use to become educated.
- Keep an eye on your state’s rules for conducting voter registration efforts. Every state has different regulations for how groups can register voters. It’s always best to contact your Board of Elections or Secretary of State if you plan to pass out and collect voter registration applications.
- Every organization has a different culture, and what works for one might not work for another. Diversify your communications so that every employee has an opportunity to receive information on the importance of voting, their dates and deadlines, and candidates – whether it be on social media, via email, or a poster hanging on a bulletin board.
- Make the connection personal. If a voter understands the difference their vote can make and how the election outcome can impact them, they will be more likely to cast their ballot.
- Participate in Employee Voter Registration Week!
Employee Voter Registration Week 2018
In 2014, the Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC) started Employee Voter Registration Week (EVRW), an effort to make a dent in the number of unregistered citizens across the country. The initiative is now celebrating its fifth anniversary and will be held from Sept. 24-28 this year. During this week, companies, associations, and other organizations will join together to encourage voter registration and participation among private sector citizens. The initiative will not tell employees how to vote or who to vote for, but instead aims to serve as a resource to help employers educate their employees about key issues and the importance of participating in the electoral process.
If you’re interested in joining this important initiative, please visit EmployeesVote.com to download messaging and graphics and sign up to be a partner. As an official partner, all we ask is that you send out materials to your member companies or employees encouraging them to get involved and that you allow us to recognize you by adding your logo to our 2018 Partners page on the website.
We will also be active on Facebook and Twitter leading up to and during the week of EVRW, so be sure to follow us @EmployeesVote so you can retweet and share our content with your network. Be sure to use #employeesvote with your posts to keep the conversation going.
September is just a few short months away, and we’re excited to make this year the most successful one yet!
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