Old Navy announced Tuesday it will pay its store employees to staff polling places on Election Day, Nov. 3. The retailer said in a press release that some 50,000 employees at 1,000 locations across the U.S. could potentially be involved. It will pay them for a full eight-hour day if they serve as poll workers.
“Every voice in this country matters and deserves to be heard at the polls, and if we at Old Navy can be even a small part of making that process more accessible to the communities we call home, we are on board,” Old Navy President Nancy Green said in a statement.
Old Navy said it is also encouraging its customers to become poll workers, providing information at this link.
Old Navy says it is working with the non-partisan business group Civic Alliance and the poll-worker recruiting initiative Power the Polls as part of a national movement to recruit 250,000 new poll workers nationwide.
More than 700 companies have signed onto an initiative called Time To Vote, vowing to give their workers time to cast their ballots on Election Day.
“No American should have to choose between earning a paycheck and voting. Business leaders around the country must step up and do what’s needed to ensure all of their employees will have the opportunity to have their voices heard this November," Time To Vote says on its website.