Companies have been doing their civic duty by encouraging consumers and workers to get out and vote on Election Day. Some, such as Wal-Mart, have had employee voter registration drives.
While retailers have been lauded for promoting the need to vote, some have begun to question whether companies have crossed the line from urging employees to vote to seeking to influence their votes.
Target, for example, made the case that voting was the "patriotic duty" of its employees in its in-house magazine. While there is no fault to be found in that sentiment, Target has also set up a web site, www.targetvoters.com, to make its employees aware of federal politicians who voted in line with the company's position on issues.
Alex Knott, political editor for the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, told the Star Tribune, "It's a completely new way to influence an election. Instead of working behind the scenes and handing out checks, they're going directly to their employees."
Getting employees to vote the company line can make a big difference in elections. Wal-Mart has 1.3 million employees in the U.S. while Target has 330,000.
Some involved in the electoral process are concerned that companies are not being forthright about their involvement in partisan politics.
Target, for example, has contributed 75 percent of its political action dollars to the GOP while www.targetvoters.com points employees primarily to Republican candidates.
"It's hard for a company to maintain the argument that it's nonpartisan when it has thousands of dollars in campaign contributions going to Republicans, and built around a very specific agenda," said Mr. Knott.
For its part, Target maintains it is not telling employees how they should vote.
"Our goal is not to tell team members who to vote for but rather to get team members to vote and to be educated on the issue at hand," said Carolyn Brookter, a Target spokesperson.
Critics of the approach taken by Target and others say the company is doing a disservice to employees by focusing on a just a few bills that pertain specifically to its business while ignoring other issues more important to the country's welfare.
Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, said, "Companies may say they're nonpartisan, but they'll describe the issues in such a way that their employees or their customers will agree their point of view."
Discussion Questions: Is there anything wrong with companies telling employees how they would like them to vote? Do you believe that, in the privacy of a voting booth, most workers vote how they believe their employer would want them?