Voting is Everyone's Business.

With the recent conclusion of the national political conventions and the November election just around the corner, many of us are only now beginning to think about how we will vote. Voting is a privilege that many of us believe to be a personal civic responsibility. But the business community is in a unique position to make voting a collective responsibility -- by underscoring the importance of voting to our employees and helping to educate them on the issues.

With events such as the annual Los Angeles City Hall Legislative Day, the Chamber has always made it a priority to encourage its members to actively voice their opinions directly to their representatives, from the city council to the state legislature and beyond. Now, as the election draws closer, I hope our members will take it upon themselves to consider the issues carefully before voting and urge their employees to do the same.

There are a number of ways this can be achieved in the work environment without advocating a particular viewpoint. You may want to send out a series of general information pieces about each ballot measure to your employees; or you can include information in your company newsletter and e-mail about where employees can research the issues themselves.

Forums can be organized on specific issues and you can even encourage employees to reregister to vote if they have moved since the last election. On Election Day, allow more flexibility in employee schedules so they have time to vote.

You may wish to refer employees to the Chamber Web site: www.lachamber.org, where our positions on ballot measures are posted before each election.

Whatever you do, the ultimate goal should be to motivate your employees to go to the polls and cast their ballots. Voting is not just a personal responsibility -- we owe it to each other to ensure the enduring viability of representative democracy.