The November Election in Georgia will look different due to COVID-19 concerns and three Georgia companies are working to make Election Day a safe experience for voters and poll workers.
The Home Depot has agreed to provide 9,209 countertop Plexiglas shields for poll workers conducting check-in at Georgia’s expected 2,800 polling locations on Election Day. These shields will go to the 126 of 159 Georgia counties who requested them, providing the total number requested by the counties, including 1,200 going to Fulton County alone.
Cox Enterprises has agreed to cover the cost of 20 absentee ballot drop boxes around the state. The incremental boxes will be distributed where there is the greatest need across the state and provide the first and only ballot boxes accessible in five rural counties. This gift aligns with Cox Enterprise’s commitment to ensure that everyone has access needed to cast their ballot this fall as the company has granted employees six hours of paid time off to vote.
Roadie, an Atlanta-based startup focusing on last mile delivery, will provide free delivery of the absentee boxes to get them set up as quickly as possible.
More than 1.1 million Georgians voted by absentee ballot during the June 9 primary elections and around 1.75 million are expected to vote that way during the upcoming November elections.
“Georgia’s great corporations, like Home Depot, Cox Enterprises, and Roadie, serve as critical components not only of our state’s economy but also our state’s civil society,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “I thank these two companies for helping keep our poll workers and voters safe, and for proving important partners in our efforts to uphold ballot access during this unprecedented pandemic.”
Through the efforts of GaVotingWorks, a non-partisan effort to convene Georgia businesses for employee engagement in elections, Home Depot, Cox Enterprises, and Roadie have agreed to make significant contributions to upholding ballot access during the pandemic.
“The outpouring of support from the business community for our fellow citizens and election officials has been truly remarkable,” said GaVotingWorks Founder Betsy Armentrout. “We are all moving rapidly to meet the needs with creative solutions for a safe, smooth and accessible election process.”
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