September 22, 2020 is #NationalVoterRegistrationDay. Get registered so you can vote in the 2020 U.S. General Election! Then read and get inspired by @kdaigle‘s story of launching a software career by helping to run local elections.
Civic engagement is a powerful tool to drive change in the world, and it’s now more important than ever for the software development community to participate. Government policies impact developers and their communities in countless ways, including influencing what software is built, how it’s used, and who gets to build it.
In the United States, presidential elections are a time of peak civic engagement. This election season, GitHub is encouraging developers in the U.S., including our own employees, to register, vote, help run elections, and contribute to work around voting rights, election security, combating disinformation, and more to support the democratic process in the U.S.
We want to encourage anyone who can vote to do so
Even if you’re a regular voter, it’s worth planning ahead as COVID-19 safety precautions may have changed your voting procedures or timeline. Here are some helpful steps and resources:
Consider volunteering as a poll worker in your local community
Today is National Poll Worker Recruitment Day in the U.S. 🇺🇸 Citizen poll workers and election officials play a big role in ensuring accessible, free, and fair elections. Counties and states are always looking for help—even more so this year with COVID-19. Additionally, more technology is introduced at the polls every year. More technically-literate staff, such as software developers, can help keep elections on track, move smoothly, and ensure your neighbors can exercise their right to vote. Working at an election within your local community is an impactful way to support voting access, and we encourage everyone to do so if you are able.
Find how to be a poll worker at HelpAmericaVote.gov or Power the Polls.
How GitHub is encouraging employee civic engagement
GitHub continues to actively support civic engagement by employees, wherever they are in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world. We encourage employees to take a paid half day off, or more if needed, to vote or take part in other civic engagement activities. GitHub has signed onto the Time to Vote initiative alongside 700 other companies to ensure employees don’t have to choose between earning a paycheck and voting.
We also encourage employees to help fill the need for poll workers on election day in the U.S. As part of this, GitHub’s Social Impact team will donate $250 on behalf of any employee that volunteers on election day to a non-profit of their choice. We’ve signed onto the Civic Alliance Election Day of Service initiative to collectively identify 250,000 new poll workers in support of a safe and secure U.S. election this November.
Key upcoming dates:
Please join us and help spread the word about voting to your fellow developers and communities in the U.S. through November and beyond. And wherever you are in the world, happy civic hacking!
We’re asking for feedback on a proposed Acceptable Use Policy update to address the use of synthetic and manipulated media tools for non-consensual intimate imagery and disinformation while protecting valuable research.
It’s the 10th anniversary of our global developer event! Celebrate with us by picking up in-person tickets today. It’s bound to be our best one yet.
As we’re opening up the doors to our final class of this programmatic year, we’re also looking back at our recent graduates and the partners that helped make them a success.
Mike Linksvayer 
