GRCA Commerce Quarterly Summer 2020 - 36

GRCA Advocacy

Promoting
Voting:

It's Business' Responsibility
By Katie Hetherington Cunfer, Director of
Government and Community Relations, GRCA

here are only roughly 9,467,823 political commercials
between now and the 2020 General Election. While your
television, radio, social media feed and mailbox may feel
like its shouting at you for the next few months to vote, its easy to
feel election fatigue. However, it is still your single most important
civic duty. In the words of Susan B. Anthony, "Someone struggled
for your right to vote. Use it."

As employers and as citizens, it's our responsibility to engage and
encourage our employees to participate in elections. Many employers
shy away because they fear getting into uncomfortable political
discussions, but it doesn't have to be if approached appropriately.
The Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA) is working with
BIPAC on a non-partisan Get Out the Vote (GOTV) initiative that
will supply employers the tools and materials to communicate the
importance of voting to your employees. GRCA is seeking willing
partners to promote voting within their businesses, including
offering onsite employee voter registration drives during GOTV
week of Sept. 21-25.
GRCA also offers a host of resources that can be accessed though
the GRCA Action Center under the Voting tab (greaterreadingchamber-grassroots.mmp2.org/voting). This page includes information
about voting, links to online voter registration, local polling locations
and candidate information based on your address.
The other key responsibility of voting is being an informed voter.
John F. Kennedy said it best when he stated, "The ignorance of one
voter in a democracy impairs the security of all."
Politics can be icky, but if you pull back from the partisanship
and focus on the issues, it's a different discussion. The media wants
to put all things in a blue or a red box, but we know it's not that
36 COMMERCE QUARTERLY SUMMER 2020

simple. Certain policy decisions affect your business, your ability
to operate, and your employees directly. You need to effectively
communicate that reality.
To help businesses and their employees get a better understanding
of the positions of candidates for this fall's election, GRCA has sent
every Congressional and state legislative candidate on the ballot a list
of 10 questions on issues important to businesses. These answers will
be also be available in the GRCA Action Center under the Voting
Tab. Click on the Learn About Candidates tab, put in your address
and it will populate information on candidates that will be on your
specific ballot. GRCA will not edit the responses, but we will note if
a candidate has chosen to not respond. This information is publicly
accessible, no login needed.
Engaging your employees on issues that affect your business
ensures your employees have a better understanding of the business
they work for. If you engage your employees on these issues, you
will be fostering an environment of critical and strategic thinking
and develop future leaders. This could help your business solve a
complex problem or pivot to a new opportunity, just because you
worked through an issue from a fresh perspective. You miss 100%
of the shots you don't take.
Politics may turn you off and you may only subscribe to the George
Carlin theory of why it's important to vote (because then you have
won the right to complain), it is still your duty to encourage civic
engagement. Major elections even as recent as 2018 were decided by
one vote, and lest we not forget hanging chads. Elections are decided
by those who participate. It's our job to promote participation and
educate employees so we ensure an informed electorate.

http://greaterreadingchamber-grassroots.mmp2.org/voting

GRCA Commerce Quarterly Summer 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRCA Commerce Quarterly Summer 2020