By Ruth Ferguson, NDG Editor
When it comes to voter participation, Texas can do better.
“Texas has one of the lowest voter turnouts,” Monica Shortino, Director of Social Innovation at Capital One shared with the North Dallas Gazette by phone recently. Elections have resulted in less than 20 percent of eligible voters participating in Collin County.
The mission of CollinCountyVotes.com (CCV) is to change this. They focused their efforts during this election cycle to help employers inform their staff on where to vote, critical dates throughout the election season, the voting process, and spotlighted vital issues. CCV worked with local chambers to help inform employers on the resources available via their website which includes videos created spotlighting candidates from both sides of the aisle.
CCV is a nonpartisan effort and does not promote either party’s agenda or specific candidates. Their primary goal is to encourage voter participation. The efforts are led by the Collin County Business Alliance in partnership with five local chambers of commerce: Allen Fairview, Frisco, McKinney, Plano, and Richardson.
“This is very unique, for a business organization to encourage their employees to vote without offering endorsements,” Shortino shared. “One of the things we really wanted to be true was to provide an equal nonpartisan platform.”
Given the divisive passion in American politics today’s headlines, it may seem surprising for employers to open the door to discuss politics at work.
“It is a noisy space, a lot of info from a lot of places,” Shortino acknowledged. “Sometimes we fear some of these conversations and don’t want to seen as taking sides. So we don’t want to have those conversations.”
Through their social media footprint, CCV strived to provide a platform for candidates to share their views in their own words with a professionally prepared video. Not all invited candidates participated.
CCV focused on three primary issues: transportation, education, and water. No matter what party an individual supports, most will agree these are issues which need to be addressed.
“We all want less traffic,” Shortino points out, “We may have different ways of solving those issues, but in a lot of ways, we are more alike than different.” Their goal was to spark conversations about concerns Collin County voters are facing.
The events the CCV helped employers to host included voter registration drives, and they are encouraging the companies to provide employees with time off to go and vote. These are ways companies can encourage active citizen participation in the voting process.
While indeed, companies continue to spend money through political action committees and private donations, they are also more active than in recent years in encouraging voter participation through non-partisan messaging. The current television ads such as the one featuring an Aretha Franklin song on behalf of Levis is a national example of encouraging voter participation.
The team at CCV believes the Collin County workforce is filled with well-educated voters, who do not require another group promoting a partisan political agenda.
“They are educated and capable of making their own decisions,” Shortino stated. Their objective is to help the voters be informed voters at the ballot box.
Early voting is underway until Nov. 2, with election day on Nov. 6. Employers can still reach out to Collin County Votes for materials to share with their staff. Including a link in a company email to the website will give voters an opportunity to view videos from candidates, find their polling location and more, as they begin to make their final selection.
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