On August 31st, Civic Alliance announced that more than 60 of its member companies, which include Starbucks, Old Navy, Target and Microsoft, will work to encourage employees and consumers to serve as poll workers on Election Day. The organization set a recruitment goal of 350,000 poll workers, the projected number necessary to keep precincts running smoothly. The election is less than two months away, and for months, voting rights organizations have sounded the alarm bells about the possibility of a poll worker shortage because of the coronavirus. But even before the pandemic, nearly 70 percent of states and jurisdictions have struggled to recruit enough poll workers. Gap, Target, Warby Parker, and DC-based coffee chain Compass Coffee are among companies that will ive workers paid time off to be poll workers.
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