Reactions to this week’s presidential debate ranged from ridicule to disgust. But if you managed to stick around until the end, there was an important takeaway: this year’s election is in crisis. Here it is straight from President Trump:
As far as the ballots are concerned, it's a disaster…. they're sending millions of ballots all over the country. There’s fraud. They found them in creeks…. It’s a rigged election.
It feels useless to point out that the concerns about mail-in voting are unfounded, and that most of the Swing States that will decide the election employ the exact type of mail-in voting that President Trump declared acceptable. (1) As we saw live on Tuesday night, debate is no longer an effective way to mediate political conflict in American democracy, and President Trump is not backing down from his assertion that this election is “rigged.”
Without debate at our disposal, the act of voting remains one of the few ways to resolve disagreement in our country without resorting to violence and disorder. Voting lets citizens silently and anonymously express their opinions about who should lead our nation, and allows the elected officials to accept those results as a legitimate mandate to govern.
So what does it mean if leading political figures are claiming this process is a “disaster” and cannot be trusted to deliver a legitimate result?
Frankly, it means that election integrity should be the top priority for every citizen and organization in the United States until we reach a clear electoral outcome.
We’re all in the business of democracy.
This is especially important right now for the business community to remember. While journalists are beginning to sound the alarm about electoral crisis and legal groups are gearing up for a protracted battle, business leaders have been slow to respond to this existential threat to free-market capitalism and the rule of law.
To be clear, this is not a partisan issue. Liberal democracy underpins everything we cherish about America, from its tolerance of diversity to its scientific and technological innovation to its flourishing, free-market economy. Without the former, there is no proven model for achieving the latter.
Therefore, business leaders should react swiftly to shore up confidence in this year’s election, in much the same way that they moved with speed and certainty to support public health in the early days of COVID-19.
To do anything less would be an admission of failure — a surrender to the forces that would have us believe that free and fair elections are no longer possible, and we must cede control of our economic and regulatory policy to the politicians with the best lawyers or the most powerful protestors, rather than the ones with the backing of voters.
Many companies have taken an initial step toward addressing a looming democratic crisis by granting Election Day as a company holiday. This is a good starting point, but it is not nearly enough for what the circumstances demand.
Business leaders should begin work immediately on a wide-ranging array of non-partisan policies that will reinforce the legitimacy of this election. There are three primary ways that the business community can make an impact:
Increase the likelihood of a swift electoral outcome.
Support a smooth and safe Election Day.
Plan for contingencies and optimize electoral efficiency.
There may be short-term economic or financial consequences to some of the recommendations below, but they are far smaller than even the mid-term repercussions of a contested election — not to mention the long-term impact of a collapse in the liberal democratic norms and institutions that make many business endeavors possible.
Increase the likelihood of a swift electoral outcome.
Given the likelihood of litigation and mistrust surrounding electoral indecision that continues beyond Election Day, companies should do everything in their power to ensure an outcome is known as close as possible to November 3.
Establish Election Day as a company holiday for all non-essential workers. This will allow more people to vote in-person, thereby reducing the proportion of votes that must be counted later because they were mailed in. (Note: “Unlimited PTO” and floating holidays do not count. Election Day must be a mandatory and universal company holiday, and this should be communicated to employees regularly and through a variety of channels.)
For essential workers, accommodations should be made to allow for early voting in-person or by mail.
In either case, additional support should be provided to employees with special needs. For example:
Child care costs should be covered on Election Day (or an alternative early voting day).
Transportation subsidies should be provided for low-to-moderate income employees who need help reaching the polls.
Personal protective equipment should be provided to any employee who requests it and commits to voting in-person.
Time off or company-sponsored DMV onsite pop-ups should be organized (where local COVID regulations allow) to help employees obtain photo IDs where local laws require them.
Onsite “Genius Bars” should be established to help employees request mail-in ballots.
Support a smooth and safe Election Day.
Chaos and controversy on Election Day are another concern. Many of the people who regularly serve as poll workers during U.S. elections are those at greatest risk of COVID-19. What if voters arrive at polling locations to find them unexpectedly closed or discover that lines are unacceptably long due to a shortage of poll workers?
Or in a less likely, but more disturbing scenario, what if armed or aggressive groups arrive at the polls to serve as “watchers” and conflict escalates to the point of violence?
The simplest way to mitigate these risks would be to ensure the polls are heavily staffed and contingencies are taken into account. Fortunately, corporate America has a large workforce of young and healthy employees who are less susceptible to COVID-19 and could support the smooth functioning of democracy in various ways on Election Day.
Here are just a few ways companies could put this talent to use supporting a controversy-free voting experience:
Create incentives for employees to serve as poll workers. These benefits could include bonuses, donations on behalf of the employees, or public accolades for employees in company communications and meetings.
Establish teams of employees who can organize and administer polling aid stations with free water, snacks, and PPE for voters who may have to wait in line.
In areas where controversies are deemed to be more likely, provide grants to legal aid groups that may need to support voters’ rights on Election Day.
Plan for contingencies and optimize electoral efficiency.
Companies should create “democracy task forces” that allow employees to roll off of projects for the next month and focus exclusively (or at least part-time) on efforts that will help shore up confidence in election results. After all, there are brilliant minds throughout the ranks of many companies who specialize in tasks ranging from marketing to logistics to data analytics that are relevant for making the Election Day experience as seamless as possible.
I have a few suggestions for how these task forces could dedicate their time between now and Election Day, although I’m sure they would come up with even better ideas once they’re formed:
Write letters and make calls through non-partisan organizations to encourage registered voters to cast their ballots.
Create contingency plans for voters’ transportation needs if polling places are unexpectedly closed or voters mistakenly arrive at the wrong location.
Identify polling locations most in need of the supplementary poll workers, legal aid and polling aid stations described above.
Coordinate employee participation in Election Day by creating staffing lists of poll workers and polling aid station volunteers.
Purchase and distribute the supplies for polling aid stations to ensure the stations are adequately provisioned throughout Election Day.
Organize and administer the legal aid grants discussed above.
Democracy cannot wait.
Some corporate leaders might object to this expansive proposal because it’s not in line with the company’s core mission. Wouldn’t these initiatives risk leading the business into the realm of partisan politics? Might they create division and conflict within the company that distracts from its ability to execute on its core business?
Absolutely not. Nothing I’ve suggested above is partisan in any way. It’s simply a list of activities that could increase the likelihood that high voter turnout on or before Election Day leads to a clear outcome that is not debated endlessly in court or the legislature. Moreover, the values underpinning these initiatives are unaffiliated with any particular social cause beyond that of free and fair elections.
Another argument might be that all of this is an overreaction. After all, companies would incur significant costs from the above proposal, and how likely is it that the election will actually lead American democracy into a crisis?
I would argue that all of the evidence actually points toward this election posing serious challenges to the legitimacy of American democracy. The President of the United States is claiming on national television that the election will be “rigged” and “a disaster.” There are already reports about contingency plans to challenge election results in court or force the outcome into the hands of State Legislatures or Congress.
The best way to look at the above proposal from a pure cost-benefit perspective is to consider it an insurance policy. Even if the risks of a contested election or constitutional crisis are low, the costs of such a “black swan” event would be unimaginably high. In the short term, markets would be volatile and civil unrest would be a serious concern. In the longer term, the loss of democratic legitimacy for whichever government rules after January 20, 2021, would increase the risk that corruption and state capitalism become the guiding principles of our national economy in the future.
And if Election Day comes and goes without controversy, then corporate America will have merely strengthened democratic norms and institutions for the long run by adopting this proposal — hardly much of a downside in a country whose liberal democratic values need all of the positive reinforcement they can get. (2)
Footnotes
(1) “A solicited ballot. Okay, so listen it is okay. You're soliciting, you're asking they send it back, you send it back. I did that,” President Trump said. Although there’s no such thing as a “solicited” versus an “unsolicited” ballot, he appears to be speaking approvingly about the states where you have to request an absentee ballot specifically in addition to registering to vote. This encompasses every state except Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Jersey, and Vermont.
(2) In that sense, maybe this proposal is less of a traditional insurance policy and more of an annuity. It will require a lump-sum payment now to guarantee a stream of regular democratic benefits in the future.
Photo credit: David Vives on Unsplash