Democracy Federal Credit Union will close its doors on Election Day to allow employees time to vote, the $170 million-asset institution announced Wednesday.
The Alexandria, Va.-based credit union joins a growing number of businesses that have chosen to suspend operations on Nov. 3 in order to provide time for staff members to get to the polls.
“The credit union philosophy is all about people helping people,” CEO Ken Cahoon said in a press release. “By empowering our employees to exercise their right to vote, we are standing tall in our communities and participating in our country’s most important decision. Giving our employees the time to vote helps to strengthen our country and economy.”
The release added that between the challenges facing the election as a result of the pandemic, a reduced number of volunteers available for voting sites and heightened emotions surrounding candidates, “it is important that we dedicate our time to helping our country.”
The credit union is one of more than 1,700 companies, including a handful of CUs, to
The consultancy CU Strategic Planning also announced on Wednesday it had joined the Time to Vote.
“One of credit unions’ foundational core is financial democracy, so it just makes sense for us and credit union to participate in this movement to promote democracy and equal access to voting,” Jamie Strayer, the firm's founder, said in a press release. “We hope credit unions will join us in supporting this worthy cause.”
Earlier this week, Xplore Federal Credit Union in New Orleans said it would also shut down on Election Day in order to provide time for employees to vote, while Credit Union of Texas announced all employees would have two available hours of paid time off between now and Election Day in order to cast their ballots.
Baltimore-based Securityplus FCU
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This story was updated at 3:37 P.M. on Oct. 28, 2020.
