Farmers learn to plan around uncertainty. But there’s a difference between not knowing what the weather will bring and not knowing what the rules will be. When much of your crop is sold overseas, a sudden change in trade policy can undo a season’s planning before the crop is out of the ground. Nebraska farmers have spent much of the past two years learning that lesson again. Even after a deal brought Chinese buyers back, the tariff fight over soybeans still isn’t settled, and prices slipped to a two-month low this month.

I’ve been thinking about those farmers as Election Day, Nov. 3, draws closer. For business leaders, the same question applies: can you plan around the rules?

Most business coverage of the midterms focuses on forecasting: which party will control Congress, what will happen to taxes, and which regulations might change. Those are reasonable questions. But in my opinion, the biggest business risk this year isn’t who wins. It’s whether the rules hold: whether we can count on them to stay in place long enough to plan, and on the institutions that set them to enforce them fairly.

Uncertainty has a cost

Economists have long understood that uncertainty can discourage investment. A March 2025 survey of economists by the Financial Times and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business found that 98% of them expected rising policy uncertainty to slow U.S. economic growth, separate from the effects of the policies themselves. When companies can’t see what’s coming, they hold off on investment and hiring.

The logic is simple. A company weighing a new plant, a product line, or a hiring class is betting on the future. A change in tax rates or regulation changes the math, but the company can recalculate. A change in the rules that no one saw coming, or that may reverse next year, leaves nothing to calculate. So the sensible move is to wait.

Business can adapt to either party’s agenda. It struggles when it can’t tell which rules will hold, who will enforce them, and whether a change will come through a process anyone can anticipate.

During my time at Microsoft, we made product bets that took years to pay off and hiring decisions that ran well past the next quarter. We couldn’t know what every future administration or Congress would do. But we could reasonably expect laws to be enforced and changes to the rules to come through institutions that behaved in ways we could predict.

PwC recently advised CEOs to expect continued volatility whatever the outcomes of the midterm elections, with trade and tariff policy set largely by executive action. I take that as a reason to care more about this election, not less. Decisions made mostly by executive order can be reversed the same way, by this president or the next one. Courts can step in, as the Supreme Court did in February when it ruled in Learning Resources v. Trump that the emergency-powers law the president had relied on doesn’t authorize tariffs. But Congress is the institution built to set lasting rules on trade and spending, and how well it does that job is part of what’s on the ballot.

For business leaders, the stakes in November go beyond which policies we prefer. They include whether the rules hold: whether the institutions responsible for making and enforcing them remain accountable and worthy of public trust.

Why business should take part

I understand why many business leaders are reluctant to speak publicly about an election. Their customers, employees, and shareholders hold diverse political views, and nobody wants their company dragged into a partisan fight. And with the economy holding up by some measures, it’s tempting to sit this one out. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports the U.S. economy grew 2.2% in the second quarter, driven by consumer spending, business investment, and exports.

Still, a good quarter doesn’t settle what’s at stake in November, and you don’t have to endorse anyone to recognize it. Two things on this year’s ballot matter a great deal to business: whether Congress does its job as a check on executive power, and whether Americans can trust the integrity of our elections and the people who administer them. Both Republicans and Democrats have stakes in these questions, as does every company that does business here. Each is a test of whether the rules hold.

Predictable rules depend on institutions that work. Those institutions depend on people participating in elections and trusting their votes will be counted fairly. That’s where business can help.

Two actions business leaders can take now

First, make it easy for employees to vote.

Offer paid time off or flexible schedules to vote, and paid leave for anyone who wants to serve as a poll worker. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Civic Time Off initiative, which this year focuses on recruiting nonpartisan poll workers, offers a starting point for employers. Make sure your managers understand your state’s voting-leave laws. Your employees should never feel that they have to choose between doing their jobs and exercising their rights as citizens.

Second, speak up for the integrity of our elections. Before Nov. 3, business leaders should make clear that they support free and fair elections, the people administering them, and the lawful certification of votes – and that their companies will respect the results.

One place to start is the Advancing Liberty Coalition, anchored by Voting Rights Lab, an organization the Raikes Foundation supports. The coalition includes unlikely allies such as business leaders, faith groups, veterans and military families, disability advocates, community organizers, and more. They share one conviction: our elections must be free, fair, conducted lawfully, and accepted peacefully—no matter who wins.

Thirty-two percent of local election officials told the Brennan Center this year that they had faced threats, harassment, or abuse because of their job. Making a statement against that behavior won’t solve the problem alone. But the collective voice of business leaders carries weight. When we speak clearly about the institutions our economy depends on, we can help reinforce the expectation that those institutions deserve respect.

Planning for next spring

Back home in Nebraska, the harvest is winding down. Farmers are already thinking about next year: what to plant and what conditions to anticipate for next spring.

Business leaders are doing much the same as they make decisions entering a future none of us can fully predict. The farmers I grew up around can’t choose the weather. Business leaders can help decide whether the rules hold.

I’ve spent much of my career in business and philanthropy, and both have reinforced my belief that the private sector plays an important role in strengthening the public institutions we all depend on. We benefit from those institutions every day, and we shouldn’t leave their defense to someone else.

I hope business leaders will help employees participate in this election, speak publicly about a commitment to fair elections and legitimate results, and be prepared to stand by those principles after the votes are counted.

Our responsibility doesn’t end on November 3. Neither does our stake in American democracy.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.