Overall Guidelines
Keep it brand-aligned and connected to your mission
While many companies promote voting simply because civic engagement is good for business, take your initiative to the next level by connecting it to a specific cause. Think about how voting, policy and leadership intersect with your corporate mission and purpose. For example, issues like climate and sustainability, public safety, economic vitality, and workforce development all have clear connections to elections. Look toward your corporate foundation priorities and social impact pillars for inspiration.
Don’t directly incentivize registering or voting
Freebies are a great way to attract people to your event or table. However, it is illegal to offer ‘something of value’ in exchange for registering to vote or voting. You can have giveaways, food or other freebies, but make them available to everyone who stops by or participates — not something that you only give after someone confirms that they registered or "in exchange" for registering.
Set clear guidelines for nonpartisanship
For many companies who encourage voter registration, education and engagement, nonpartisanship is a top priority. To ensure that your initiative is nonpartisan, focus on the WHAT, WHEN, HOW and WHY of voting, but stay away from the WHO. That is, help potential voters understand the importance of elections and help them with logistics, but do not discuss who to vote for. View this guide for more on nonpartisanship.
Engagement Suggestions
Host IRL or virtual events related to voter education, registration and plan-making. Carving out time and making it a fun, social experience helps to encourage these actions, which increase likelihood of voting.
Create a "selfie station" in the office on where employees can take photos after registering or checking their status or making a voting plan.
Encourage friendly competition between departments, offices or regions for voter registration and plan-making. Post a leaderboard and shout out the winners.
Have executives and management lead by example by discussing their own plans to get ready to vote. This helps create a 'culture of participation' and underscores that supporting civic participation is a non-partisan endeavor.
Leverage internal communities like Employee Resource Groups to identify “voting champions” to help educate and register their peers. You can also use Motivote 'teams' to activate ERGs.
If your employees are concentrated in a single state or a couple regions, highlight state-specific deadlines and rules in corporate communications and in-office displays. This is especially valuable for states where laws have recently changed or where there are confusing rules. For example:
Voter ID: States like North Carolina and Ohio law now require Photo ID at the polls, a change from the last presidential election cycle.
Postmark requirement: States like Utah and Ohio require ballots to be "postmarked" (in the mail) the day before Election Day in order to count, so voters can't hold on to their ballot until Election Day if they need to mail it back.
In-person ballot return requirement: States like Arkansas and Alabama require ballots to be returned in-person before Election Day, while Tennessee does not allow any in-person return options at all.
Consider incorporating voting resources into point of service with links/QR codes on store monitors, printed on receipts, or online properties.