Patagonia will be closed today to allow all employees to vote with paid time off. The closure includes all U.S. stores, offices and the distribution center in Reno, Nev. Patagonia has been doing this on Election Day since 2016.
As a co-founder of the Time To Vote movement, Patagonia is committed to ensuring its employees don’t have to choose between voting and earning a paycheck. Employees who voted early or voted by mail are encouraged to serve as poll workers, or by volunteering as poll watchers with reputable civic engagement groups, or by helping to get out the vote in other ways.
Time to Vote, which Patagonia created in 2018 with Levi Strauss & Co. and PayPal, has recruited 2,011 companies to date. All the companies are committed to providing time off so their employees can vote.
Other ways Patagonia is supporting the midterms:
- At least one representative from each Patagonia location nationwide is serving as a poll worker, poll watcher or in other ways. This is done on a voluntary basis, and employees are provided paid time off.
- Employees from Patagonia’s distribution center in Reno are fully staffing the Reno and Hug High School polling locations.
- Patagonia recruited more than 1,500 people from its community to sign up through Power The Polls to apply to become poll workers.
- Patagonia employees from around the United States sent 1,000 postcards from The Civics Center to 18-year-olds in Reno, encouraging them to register and vote.
- Patagonia employees and their community are responsible for sending about 3,000 letters to low-propensity voters in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas through Vote Forward.
- Patagonia supported Rise in mobilizing 18,000 young voters in Atlanta and 15,000 young voters in Pittsburgh.
- Patagonia helped My School Votes engage 252 high schools to register 2,291 young voters.
