How Krispy Kreme Is Encouraging People To Vote

If you're thinking you might not participate in the election this year because your vote won't count, consider this. The current president of the United States won Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin in 2016 by a combined 77,744 votes (via CNN). The electoral votes from those three states made the difference in his victory. In just one of those states — Pennsylvania — about 4 million people who were old enough to vote sat out the 2016 election (via PA Department of State). You'd find comparable, though smaller, numbers of non-voters in the less populous states of Michigan and Wisconsin. Whether you support the current president or not, everyone can agree on this: The result might have been different if more people (especially in those three states) had exercised their democratic right to cast a ballot.

It's with that old 2016 voter apathy in mind that corporations in 2020 are sending a one-word message to their customers: Vote! All kinds of businesses — Uber, Nike, sports teams, restaurant chains — are delivering this message (via The Atlantic). Social media is getting into the act, too. Open up Facebook or Twitter, and the first thing you're bound to bump into is information about voting. Now, we can add doughnut chain Krispy Kreme to the list of companies that want to get out the vote. And they have a sweet enticement to get you to participate on November 3.

Krispy Kreme hopes you visit one of their stores in addition to a polling place on Election Day. The doughnut chain is giving away one original glazed doughnut on November 3, while also passing out "I Voted" stickers to anyone who wants them (via Delish). The sticker might be especially attractive to the significant number of voters who are casting ballots but aren't going to the polls. YouGov says more than a third of U.S. voters will mail in their ballots this year. This will be new for many American voters, so someone needs to tell them that no one is going to give them an "I Voted" sticker for their effort (unless it was included with their mail-in ballot). No one, that is, except Krispy Kreme. 

After you vote, and get your doughnut and sticker, Krispy Kreme encourages you to show off your sweet tooth and sense of civic duty by posting a selfie with the #KrispyKreme hashtag. We just hope you don't need to wait in line too long for your free Krispy Kreme doughnut. Another recent doughnut giveaway at the chain, for graduates in the Class of 2020, saw at least one drive-thru line that stretched for a mile.