Randy Zook: Arkansas Works Better When Arkansans Vote

Editor’s note: This guest commentary was provided by Randy Zook, President and CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas.

Employers in Arkansas have a unique opportunity to help their employees understand the effect of government on the business environment and the outlook for employees’ jobs.

The Midterm Election is less than 50 days away.  And employers in our state recognize that Arkansas and America can do better than having a 14 percent approval rating of Congress.

America works better when Americans vote, but Americans can’t vote unless they are registered. There are millions of employees across the U.S. who have not registered to vote, but it isn’t too late to get them registered.  The Arkansas Prosperity Project, a grassroots coalition of local businesses and trade associations is proud to participate in a Get Out The Vote strategy by and for the business community called “Employees Vote.”

About 39 percent of eligible Arkansans voted in our last Midterm Election.  In 2010, that means three out of every five eligible voters in our state didn’t make their voice heard.

As business owners and entrepreneurs, we recognize that people don’t register because they forget, or they think it’s too complicated or time-consuming, or perhaps they have moved and just haven’t updated their voter registration information. The truth is that registering to vote is simple and doesn’t take much time or effort.

The Arkansas Prosperity Project wants to make sure that in 2014 we improve on the turnout and we want to make sure that voters are educated when they show up to vote on November 4 or if they vote early.

On ArkansasProsperity.org or EmployeesVote.org, we’ve made it easy for individuals to register to vote and to learn about the 2014 Midterm elections.

We are participating in Employee Voter Registration Week, from September 22-26, to make a dent in the number of unregistered citizens across Arkansas and America.  During this week, companies and associations will join together in an effort to encourage voter registration among private sector employees.

The initiative will not tell employees who to vote for, but instead aims to serve as a resource to help employers educate their employees about the issues that are important to their industries and provide key deadlines, voter registration, and polling location information. It also provides an online tool to help employees register to vote.

To make a difference in Congress, we need to look outside of the D.C. beltway.  Employers and employees in Arkansas can help to make that difference if we help to Get Out The Vote.