“Voting is not only our right — it is our power.” — Loung Ung

As a company, we have generally tried to use our public industry platform to advocate within our area of expertise. And while we don’t publicly state all of our corporate philosophies, one core tenant is the belief that a company should help facilitate it’s employees’ ability to be the best family members and citizens possible. The political franchise is one of the primary rights (and responsibilities) conferred by citizenship in a democracy. Unfortunately this has not always been easy to exercise, even more so today with busy schedules and pandemic conditions. I would like to share a decision we recently made to help our employees exercise their right to vote and the internal communication I sent last month regarding that decision (copied below).

In recent months we have seen many examples of organizations publicly declaring holidays to help their employees vote. SpecterOps is proud to join them in facilitating and encouraging our employees to better exercise their political franchise. Further, as we look to the future, we will use this focused moment of civic participation to help enable employee participation in the democratic process.

I would like to advocate to all companies within our industry to join us in this commitment to give employees paid time off to vote.

Specters,

Voting is the cornerstone of our republic. It is our most fundamental right, and allows us to choose who will chart our course as a country. In a perfect world, the logistics of voting would be quick and easy for all citizens; yet unfortunately, this has never been the case. Now more than ever we face increased difficulties in voting presented by our current crisis. The reality is overcoming these roadblocks (be it lines, sparse locations, etc.) can be a time-demanding process, when both work and life have little time to give. Furthermore, for many of our communities the logistics of voting are made possible by volunteers who give their time to their fellow citizens, with these volunteers jeopardizing their safety despite typically being elderly and part of “high risk” groups. For many though the risk is too great, leading to significant shortages of volunteers in this year’s election.

Our company exists as a collection of aspirations of our employees made real by their hard work, but we also exists within the constraints of the society in which we operate. We believe our company has a civic duty to help our people participate in their most fundamental right and responsibility. As such, we are declaring Presidential and mid-term (every other year) Election Days to be paid company holidays. We strongly encourage you to use this time to exercise your vote. As voting is often not conducted on a single day for many of us, if you have alternate plans (such as early voting), please work with your manager to float your holiday to an appropriate time. In addition, while this will be a holiday for SpecterOps, operational impacts may preclude some of you from taking Election Day itself off. If you are in this situation, your manager will work with you on a voting plan and floating the holiday to another day. We will communicate and work with clients to mitigate any impacts to ongoing work and ensure all employees have ample opportunity to vote.

Finally, if you are able and in an applicable jurisdiction, we also would appreciate and encourage you to volunteer as a poll worker. Many of us are at significantly reduced risk of developing COVID complications and can help replace those who were too vulnerable to participate this year. If you are volunteering and need additional time for training, prep, etc. the company will support the additional time off required to do so. Please work with your manager to identify and cover any necessary absences.

Some resources you can use for information on how to vote or volunteer:

• https://www.usa.gov/election-office
• https://www.astartingpoint.com/
• https://www.eac.gov/help-america-vote
• https://www.powerthepolls.org/

In closing, I would like to leave you with another quote that personally inspires me to participate during every voting season:

“Someone struggled for your right to vote. Use it.” — Susan B. Anthony

David