My mid-sized company, Q-Lab Corporation, is doing something about it. We’ve made two simple policy changes that your own company can adopt tomorrow. The first policy is that we are now offering full pay for the time our employees spend working to staff their local voting stations on Election Day. In effect, it’s extra PTO (Paid Time Off). And because most Boards of Elections require a few hours of training prior to Election Day, we are also paying our employees for that training time. Yes, 2020 is a tough year for cash flow for most businesses. But giving this financial support to our employees to work the polls is an enormously worthwhile investment in preserving our democratic traditions. If enough companies join in this effort, there will be plenty of election workers on Tuesday, November 3. But we need to get rolling right now.

Of course this is only for the non-partisan work of running the actual voting process. We are not paying our folks for any work they might do to promote a particular candidate, political party or ballot issue. Nor are we paying for traditional voter registration drives or “get out the vote” programs. These are often partisan projects. Q-Lab isn’t doing this to ensure the success of a particular candidate or party. We are only looking to ensure the success of the voting process as a whole.

It’s true that many of our employees are not suitable volunteers to work the polls during this pandemic. They may have their own health issues, or they might live with family members that must be protected from exposure. That’s OK. But many of our other employees are younger, healthy folks who are looking for a way to make a practical contribution to the democratic process. We want to support that patriotic impulse.

Working the polls is, of course, not without risk. But millions of people meet the public every day in their jobs (now deemed “essential”) in retail, food service, medical care and other professions. It seems to me that working the voting stations for a day isn’t any more risky than those jobs, and is just as essential.

So I challenge every small and mid-sized business in America to join us in compensating your employees who choose to volunteer on voting day. If you run a business, you can make this decision today, and put the policy in motion tomorrow. According to the SBA, there are over 30 million small businesses, employing 60 million people. That’s roughly half of the U.S. workforce. Imagine if “only” a million of us small business owners acted right now to offer PTO for poll work. Every polling station across the country would have the workers they need to staff the election. Some larger companies are already giving PTO for employees to work the polls. Companies like Starbucks, Patagonia, and Target. But big companies can’t provide enough poll workers. And if they’re not already offering PTO for poll work, they will have a tough time acting fast enough to meet this year’s election deadline. This is where the speed and flexibility of small and medium business can make the critical difference.

The reason we have to act now is because it takes a period of time for your employee to become a poll worker for Election Day. In some jurisdictions it’s only a few days, but in others it can take a couple of weeks. Every Board of Elections has different rules for poll workers. Usually you can just log on to the Board of Elections website and fill out a 5 minute application form. After applying, the prospective poll worker usually has to go through some kind of vetting process. If they are approved, they have to schedule a training session, which is usually 2 to 4 hours. Typically, the Board of Elections will pay somewhere from $100 to $200 for working on Election Day. On top of their normal salary, that’s a nice little kicker for your employees.

Make no mistake; election work requires a definite commitment. The poll workers have to arrive in the early morning on Election Day and stay until late in the evening. Some polling stations also require a couple hours of set-up work the night before. But I can’t imagine a better way to help safeguard our precious democracy.

To get your company started, just announce the policy and maybe give your employees a quick summary of the rules for your relevant local Board of Elections. Imagine if millions of small and mid-sized businesses each supported even a few of their staff as poll workers. We could all breathe a lot easier about this year’s election process.

Our second policy change is an even easier way to help Election Day run smoother. Tell your employees that they can take off two hours (with pay) during the workday to go vote. This will help mitigate the usual rush periods before work in the morning and after work in the evening. When I’ve voted in the evening or early morning, there was always a huge line. When I’ve been able to vote in the middle of the day, I’ve generally just waltzed in and cast my ballot. More people voting during the day will eliminate those troublesome bottlenecks, and make it easier for everyone to vote. And it will help with social distancing.

And if you want to go a little further, why not contact your local voting station and see if you can supply them with portable HEPA filters, hand sanitizer, gloves, or disposable masks for the voters? They may not have the budget or bureaucratic authority to buy these safety supplies that are not part of the usual voting process.

I think that paying your employees while they work the polls (and while they vote) should become a permanent part of American culture. We pay our employees when they take a week for jury duty. Supporting Election Day is an equally important part of our collective civic duty. Employers of America -- let’s make it happen!