{"id":1002570,"date":"2018-10-11T10:04:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T10:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1002570"},"modified":"2024-05-23T20:15:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T20:15:46","slug":"icymi-fortune-its-time-for-employees-to-get-paid-leave-to-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-fortune-its-time-for-employees-to-get-paid-leave-to-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"ICYMI: Fortune: It\u2019s Time for Employees to Get Paid Leave to Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fortune<\/a>: It\u2019s Time for Employees to Get Paid Leave to Vote<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Tom Perez and Rep. Matt Cartwright<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

October 10, 2018<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Nov. 6, Americans will vote in one of the most important elections in our lifetime. Companies and their employees have a significant stake in the outcome. But too many people still say they don\u2019t vote because they are too busy or their schedule won\u2019t allow it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen this before. In November 2016, about 40% of eligible voters did not cast a ballot. Some made a conscious decision not to go to the polls on Election Day. But many of these voters simply didn\u2019t have a choice. Around half of states do not require employers to give employees paid leave to vote. And more than a third of states don\u2019t require employers to allow their employees to take unpaid leave to vote.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In election after election, American workers are forced to choose between their paycheck and their vote. This is simply unacceptable in the world\u2019s greatest democracy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thankfully, many American companies agree. That\u2019s why dozens of employers are already leading the way as part of the Time to Vote campaign. Companies like Levi Strauss, New Belgium, and Patagonia are offering paid time off, while businesses like Lyft are offering free and discounted rides to the polls. We need more businesses, large and small, to follow their lead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the Democratic National Committee, the senior staff and officers have been working to reach out to more executives, urging them to join the cause and take steps to make sure their employees have the time and resources to participate in our democracy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By providing voting leave, companies don\u2019t just demonstrate a commitment to their workers\u2014they show their commitment to the health of our democracy. Businesses also benefit when their employees\u2019 voices are heard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Democratic lawmakers in Congress and across the country have been fighting to make voting easier. But Republican leaders continue to block any legislation that would help more people get to the polls, including the Time Off to Vote Act, which would give voters at least two hours of paid leave to vote in federal elections.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Voter suppression has been part of the Republican playbook for decades, because they know that the only way they can win elections is if fewer people vote. \u201cI don\u2019t want everybody to vote,\u201d Paul Weyrich, a godfather of the modern conservative movement, admitted to a conference of conservative activists in 1980. \u201cAs a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the absence of effective Republican leadership in Congress, companies need to take the initiative. This is not about partisanship\u2014it\u2019s about patriotism. It\u2019s about making sure that every eligible voter can exercise their constitutional right at the ballot box. As the CEO of Sonos said recently, \u201cAs employers, it is our duty to society to empower those who work for us to use their voices at the polls.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our democracy works best when more people participate, not fewer. Let\u2019s make sure everyone can make their voice heard on Election Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fortune: It\u2019s Time for Employees to Get Paid Leave to Vote   By Tom Perez and Rep. Matt Cartwright   October 10, 2018   On Nov. 6, Americans will vote in one of the most important elections in our lifetime. Companies and their employees have a significant stake in the outcome. But too many people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1002570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nICYMI: Fortune: It\u2019s Time for Employees to Get Paid Leave to Vote - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-fortune-its-time-for-employees-to-get-paid-leave-to-vote\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-11T10:04:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-23T20:15:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-fortune-its-time-for-employees-to-get-paid-leave-to-vote\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-fortune-its-time-for-employees-to-get-paid-leave-to-vote\/\",\"name\":\"ICYMI: Fortune: It\u2019s Time for Employees to Get Paid Leave to Vote - 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