I am sending out this week’s message in advance of National Voter Registration Day which is Tuesday, Sept 22nd. On this day, numerous volunteers and organizations will remind people of the importance of voting and will help people register to vote. Please see today’s Harvard Gazette article for more information about the #HarvardVotesChallenge—a non-partisan initiative to encourage faculty, staff, students, and others to vote and educate them on the importance of voting. To make sure everyone has enough time to register to vote, the registration deadline has been extended to October 24, 2020, 10 days before the election.
While there are many reasons to vote, there are still many structural barriers that can make it difficult. However, there are many more options available for voting in Massachusetts this year: by mail, in-person early at an early voting site, or on Election Day at your polling place. As a reminder, Election Day is Tuesday, November 3rd.
In order to make voting more accessible to Countway Library staff, the Countway Administrative Team (CAT) agreed last week to the #CountwayVotes initiative. #CountwayVotes is designed to break down some of the barriers library staff might have in exercising their right to make their voices heard.
Tuesday, November 3rd is Election Day and Countway leadership will be encouraging staff to get out and vote. We encourage you to create your voting plan sooner rather than later. Will you vote by mail? If so, have you arranged to receive a mail-in ballot? Where will you drop off your ballot? Will you go in person? Are you registered? Do you know the deadlines for registration and/or requesting mail-in ballots?
Every person who can vote should have the opportunity to exercise their civic right and we will do our best to make it a little easier for all Countway staff to vote this year.
Please make note of the below changes to our workday for November 3rd:
- Staff who will be voting in person can use work time to vote
- Staff who are scheduled to be on-site on 11/3/20 and plan to vote in person can have an excused work from home day to have the ability to vote at your local polling place
- Lines and wait times at poll locations may be longer than anticipated so please take the time you need
- While we cannot control all meetings, Countway staff should not schedule any internal meetings on November 3rd so people have the flexibility to take work time to vote
If you feel comfortable, please help us document your Election Day experience by taking pictures and/or videos and posting to social media #CountwayVotes. Please send Luciana any pictures of you registering to vote, receiving mail-in ballots, dropping off ballots, videos of you standing in line if you chose to vote in person, or any other activity surrounding election day and voting. We hope to share how Countway staff are experiencing this important activity. Luciana will then compile the media that is received and create an election day video and collage.
I hope these adjustments to the workday on November 3rd are helpful in encouraging all of us to vote.
Elaine
