Takeaways from NWRA PAC Presents: Employee Voter Registration Week Webinar
To kick off Employee Voter Registration Week (EVRW), the National Waste & Recycling Association hosted a webinar with BIPAC, a mission-focused membership organization that helps trade associations and companies with their grassroots advocacy, voter engagement and political action committee (PAC) programs.
During the webinar, BIPAC Vice President Kim Durcho shared information on what voter turnout looked like in the midterm elections and previous presidential elections, how COVID-19 is affecting voting, how to get the waste and recycling industry registered to vote and how BIPAC can help.
Taking a look at previous elections, Durcho stated that in 2016, 61.4 percent of the citizen voting-age population reported voting, according to the Census Bureau. Additionally, according to Business Insider, 46 million people voted early, nearly 139 million people voted in total and 2.4 million people cast ballots but left the presidential line blank.
While those numbers may seem pretty high, research from the Pew Research Center shows the United States’ voter turnout is behind most of its peers in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, placing 26th out of 32 countries.
In an effort to improve these stats and get more people to the polls, BIPAC in 2014 launched Employee Voter Registration Week, an effort where companies and associations join together to encourage voter registration among private sector employees.
One way that companies and associations are getting their members and employees to vote is communication, according to a 2019 BIPAC Report on the Business Case for Employer to Employee Engagement and a 2018 BIPAC Employer to Employee Engagement Study. In fact, according to the 2018 study, 84 percent of employees who received nonpartisan information said it was very or somewhat helpful in deciding which candidate(s) to vote for in the election, and 61 percent of individuals who received information from their employer said it made them more likely to vote.
During Employee Voter Registration Week (September 21-25) and beyond, companies and associations can ramp up their communication efforts by signing up as a EVRW partner, emailing employees a reminder to register to vote or update their voter registration information, posting on social media and preparing for Get Out The Vote by speaking to employees about voting by mail and in person. While communication is an effective tool, efforts must be done properly. Here are some useful tips:
While trade associations and companies can do their part to inform employees about voter registration and voting, it’s ultimately up to the employees to take action and vote. Here are some tips for voters:
For voters who are concerned about COVID-19, it’s important to note that states drastically changed the way that voters voted in the primary elections, and those changes have continued to the general election for many states. For updated voter information in your state, visit employeesvote.com.
Interested in learning more? Listen to a recording of the webinar here.
