When it comes to the future of our democracy, our votes have never mattered more. But for too many Americans, the barriers to casting their ballots have never been higher. This year, we at Patagonia are committed to breaking down one barrier in particular: the widespread lack of information about how and where to vote.
Low voter turnout has been a problem in the U.S. for a long time. There are lots of understandable reasons for this. For starters, many Americans feel disconnected from the political process. Others don’t have paid time off from work to get to their polling place, so are forced to choose between voting or keeping their job. And then there are restrictions imposed on voters, which disproportionately affect low-income voters, students, the elderly, immigrants, and people of color.
For many, trying to figure out where, when, and how to vote can be overwhelming — and this year, that problem has been made much worse because of the pandemic and uneven access to vote by mail across states. One recent poll found that in the midst of this pandemic, fewer than one in two young people know what they need to do to vote by mail. Barely more than half have ready access to a printer and stamps, two things needed to register to vote or even request a ballot in many states. Even more alarmingly, a recent NPR analysis of the 2020 presidential primary found that those who voted by mail for the first time – especially young, Black, and Latinx voters – were more likely to have their ballots rejected because of errors.
There’s too much at stake this election to let anything get in the way of getting out the vote. So after closing our doors on Election Day in 2016 and 2018, this year we decided to do even more. To address the growing poll worker shortage that could hurt Americans’ ability to vote conveniently and quickly, we are offering our employees up to four additional days off work to train and serve as poll workers. We are also organizing letter writing and texting parties during work hours to give employees the opportunity to send hand written letters or text messages to environmentalists as research from the Environmental Voter Project indicates at least 10 million environmentalists did not vote in the 2016 elections
Also, in states where studies say it will be difficult to vote by mail, Patagonia is partnering with local groups to make sure voters have up-to-date information on voter registration, early vote days, and polling places in their area. In some stores, we’ll even be providing applications for mail-in ballots and access to a photocopier so people can provide identification with their application.
We are strongly encouraging our community to make a plan to vote and to vote early. Voters should also review these handy checklists that provide local info about voting options for each state where Patagonia has a store.
But we can’t do this work alone. We encourage other businesses to join our nonpartisan Time To Vote movement – which already has over a one thousand companies signed-up – and support our goal of increasing voter participation in our elections by helping to ensure that no worker has to choose between earning a paycheck and voting.
Voting should be considered sacred in this country, but right now this basic right is under threat. Our democracy works best when we all participate, so in a moment when so much is uncertain, let’s come together to make sure that knowing how to vote is crystal clear.