The New York Times reports that "almost 4,000 tech and corporate workers at Amazon have signed an internal proposal asking the company to give all its workers, including those in its warehouses, a paid day off to vote."
The proposal says, in part: "Voting during the pandemic means hourslong lines and confusion over where and how to vote … Amazon has an opportunity to raise the bar and help ensure that every Amazon worker’s vote will be counted."
Amazon spokesperson Jaci Anderson tells the Times that "in states with in-person voting, workers can request time off at the start or end of their shifts to vote, but how many hours, and whether it is paid, varies based on what state law."
- KC's View:
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I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this … is the suggestion that Amazon should just shut the joint down for a day so everybody in the company can vote? I'm a proponent of making it not just possible, but easy, for everyone to vote, but I'm not sure how practical or even necessary this is.
After all, something like 10 million people in the US - me among them - already have voted. Many states make it easy for folks to vote, and so in those places, this kind of closure probably isn't necessary.
That said, we are seeing places around the country where the lines are incredibly long and the waits can run into many hours. It'll probably be even worse on Election Day, so maybe people in those vicinities will need more flexibility than others. (To people's credit, many of them seem to be putting in the time … and it seems at least possible that we'll have record participation this year.)
