What is "Business" in Continuity?

I see business continuity everywhere. If it helps achieve a goal by making sure that the mission is accomplished, I see it as an act of business continuity...even if the actor isn't a business.

I've given talks for years about how government entities, schools, churches, etc. need to be doing business continuity. It's really about supporting operations for a mission. That does not need to be limited to a business as most people define it. Today, as the NYC Mayoral Democrat Primary takes place, I saw another example from an a-typical source. Not from the voting station but rather from the third place (according to polling) candidate in the race: Brad Lander. Let me set the stage.

Event: final day of voting.

Mission: be the Democrat candidate for NYC mayor.

Conditions: Final day to vote in-person. Can no longer apply for a mail-in ballot. Previous nine days had early in-person voting. Polling stations open from 6am-9pm. Heat wave with temperatures to hit 100 degrees (with a "feels like 105) today.

Issues: Potential heat-related illnesses. Power grid failures/inconsistent power service (already impacting NYC since the day before).

Impacts: People will not show up to vote because it is too hot. People who do vote will be standing in lines outside.

Brad Lander's campaign is the only one who looked ahead and did some preparation and mitigation work for today. A genius in his campaign decided that in order to win the primary, every vote needed to count (with ranked voting in NYC, he has a sporting chance), and they are doing everything they can in their power to take care of people and make sure people feel safe.

1) His campaign trained staff on how to look for and identify heat stroke specifically to meet the weather conditions for this voting day.

2) His campaign filled up vans and trucks with water, gatorade, coolers, and ice packs to go to polling stations and give them out.

This information was available, so those reading about it who may have been on the fence about the heat, might have been swayed to go outside and vote. His campaign also showed that he cares about the democratic process - they will not be asking people before offering water or assistance, "Where are you ranking Brad Lander?"

Even if the ultimate mission of being the Democrat mayoral candidate fails, Brad Lander has done what he could to make sure the public gets out to vote...hopefully for him. He has also won a lot of intangible public relation points for this act. The Board of Elections didn't do any of this: they said the heat was a facilities issue so sent fans to buildings without air conditioning...and told people to take precautions - bring your own water, for example, when showing up to vote. Brad Lander focused on the people issue, instead.

And that's how you business continuity a primary voting day as a candidate.