As elections approach, many employers are wondering what that might mean for their employees who are scheduled to work while the polls are open—and how much time off to vote they may need to provide their employees.
While federal law doesn’t require employers to provide time off to vote, many state laws ensure that employees are given at least a couple of hours to cast their ballots. Some states even go further and require employers to permit some of their employees to take time off to serve as election officials.
In this article, we will provide you with an overview of state laws regarding voting and election official leave.
Voting leave requirements by state
Below is a table detailing some of the specifics of all 28 states (plus D.C.) that require some form of employee voting leave:
| Jurisdiction | Paid or Unpaid | Amount | Required Employee Notice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Unpaid | 1 hour | Reasonable advance notice must be provided. |
| Alaska | Paid | Necessary time | — |
| Arizona | Paid | 3 hours | Leave must be requested before election day. |
| Arkansas | Unpaid | Unclear | — |
| California | Paid | 2 hours | At least 2 work days |
| Colorado | Paid | 2 hours | Leave must be requested before election day. |
| District of Columbia | Paid | 2 hours | Reasonable advance notice must be provided. |
| Georgia | Unpaid | 2 hours | Reasonable advance notice must be provided. |
| Illinois | Paid | 2 hours | Leave must be requested before election day. |
| Iowa | Paid | 2 hours | Written request for leave required prior to election day. |
| Kansas | Paid | 2 hours | — |
| Kentucky | Unpaid | 4 hours | Leave must be requested before election day. |
| Maryland | Paid | 2 hours | — |
| Massachusetts | Unpaid | 2 hours | Leave must be requested before election day. |
| Minnesota | Paid | Necessary time | — |
| Missouri | Paid | 3 hours | Leave must be requested before election day. |
| Nebraska | Paid | 2 hours | Leave must be requested before or on election day. |
| Nevada | Paid (if leave is requested in advance) | Variable based on distance to poll | Leave must be requested before election day. |
| New Mexico | Paid | 2 hours | — |
| New York | Paid (up to 2 hours) | 2 hours | Leave must be requested no more than 10 days and no less than 2 work days before the day of the election. |
| Ohio | Unclear | Reasonable amount | — |
| Oklahoma | Paid | 2 hours | Leave must be requested at least 3 days before the election or in-person absentee voting. |
| South Dakota | Paid | 2 hours | — |
| Tennessee | Paid | 3 hours | Leave must be requested before 12:00 p.m. on the day before the election. |
| Texas | Paid | Unclear | — |
| Utah | Paid | 2 hours | Leave must be requested before election day. |
| West Virginia | Paid | 3 hours | Leave must be requested in writing at least 3 days before election day. |
| Wisconsin | Unpaid | 3 hours | Leave must be requested before election day. |
| Wyoming | Paid | 1 hour | — |
There are four states of note not listed in the table:
- Connecticut had a voting leave requirement up until just this year. The state’s voting leave law expired on June 30, 2024—allowing employers to choose whether they want to provide voting leave or not.
- Hawaii also rolled back their existing voting leave requirements. This happened because—starting with the 2020 election—voting in Hawaii is done entirely by mail, meaning employees no longer need to take time off to physically be at a polling station to vote.
- While North Dakota does have a state voting leave statute, it doesn’t impose voting leave responsibilities upon employers, but encourages them to allow employees to vote if they are scheduled to work while the polls are open. The law says that “employers are encouraged to establish a program to grant an employee who is a qualified voter to be absent from the employee’s employment for the purpose of voting when an employee’s regular work schedule conflicts with voting during time when polls are open.”
- Vermont has a voting adjacent leave requirement. In Vermont, employers are required to provide leave for employees to attend an annual town meeting, though voting isn’t specifically mentioned. Employees are required to provide at least 7 days’ notice of their need to take this leave, however.
Finally, in addition to providing voting leave, California requires employers to post a public notice of employees’ right to time off to vote no less than 10 days ahead of the election.
Is voting leave paid or unpaid?
One common question employers have once they realize that they need to provide voting leave is “Does the leave have to be paid?” The answer is most states require voting time off to be paid (reference the table above), with Ohio ignoring that issue in the law.
Ohio doesn’t specify whether leave must be paid or unpaid, but there is some guidance from the Attorney General. According to the AG, salaried employees may not have their salary reduced for their voting leave, but hourly employees may be required to take unpaid leave.
How much time off should I provide for voting?
In general, state law doesn’t require employers to provide much voting leave to their employees.
Most states require only 2 hours of leave if the employee wouldn’t be able to make it to the polls outside their regular work hours (i.e. if their work day overlaps with when the polls are open). There are some states that don’t limit the amount of time an employee can take, however, and simply state that employers must provide the amount of time necessary for the employee to vote.
How much notice do employees need to give for voting time off?
One final piece of information commonly requested by employers is the amount of notice employees must provide to qualify for voting leave.
States vary in their requirements, with some specifying that employees must provide notice before a certain hour, some within a certain amount of days before an election, and others neglecting to mention employee notice at all—review the table above for more.
Election official leave requirements by state
Below is a table detailing some of the specifics of all the states that require some form of election official leave:
| Jurisdiction | Paid or Unpaid | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama (25+ employees) | Unpaid | Necessary amount | Proper documentation of leave requirements must be provided at least 7 days in advance. |
| Delaware (non-critical employees) | Paid | Necessary amount | Employees must have available vacation time to take election leave. |
| Illinois (25+ employees) | Unpaid | Necessary amount | At least 20 days’ written notice must be provided before taking leave. |
| Kentucky | Unpaid | Entire Day | Leave may be taken for training or to serve as election official. |
| Minnesota | Paid | Necessary amount | At least 20 days’ written notice and certification from the appointing authority must be provided before taking leave. Wages may be reduced to account for election official compensation. |
| Nebraska | Paid | The period of service | Employees must provide reasonable notice of the need for leave. Employers may reduce pay to account for election official compensation. |
| North Carolina | Unpaid | Unclear | At least 30 days’ written notice must be provided before taking leave. |
| Ohio | Unpaid | Unclear | Leave may be taken on any registration or election day. |
| Tennessee | Unpaid | All day(s) required | Full-time employees serving as part-time voting machine technicians may take leave. Use of vacation time may not be required. |
| Virginia | Unpaid | Unclear | Employees must provide reasonable notice of the need for leave to serve as an election official, member of a local electoral board, or deputy general registrar on election day or at a meeting of the electoral board. Use of vacation time may not be required. |
| Wisconsin | Unpaid | 24 hours for each day of service | At least 7 days’ notice must be provided before taking leave. |
Election official leave (with only 11 states implementing it so far) is far less common than voting leave, so it may not be something most employers think about. However, there can be both civil and criminal penalties for employers who fail to provide appropriate election official leave.
Employers must be aware of their responsibilities so they can better ensure they don’t run afoul of the law. The table above is meant to provide some of the most important information about election official leave, but is not a complete survey of the law and should be used as a supplement to your own legal review or advice.
Is election official leave paid or unpaid?
Of course, the most common question employers have, after determining whether leave needs to be provided at all, is whether election official leave must be paid.
Contrary to voting leave, election official leave does not have to be paid, for the most part. In one interesting case, Delaware election official leave must be paid but the employee taking the leave must have vacation time available in order to take that leave, meaning that employees must essentially use their existing paid leave to serve as an election official.
Review the chart above for an overview of the paid leave requirements for election officials.
How much leave do I need to give employees who volunteer as election officials?
Employers may have some difficulty nailing down exactly how much leave to give employees to serve as election officials. Different officials may have different duties and hourly requirements, and state laws don’t provide any hard numbers. What you’ll see in the chart is that, for the most part, employers must provide however much leave is required for the election official to fulfill their duties.
Understandably, this amorphous leave amount causes trouble when it comes to predictability in work scheduling. One place to look for help in developing a scheduling strategy is Wisconsin:
- In Wisconsin, employers are required to provide 24 hours for each day that the election official will need to perform their election duties.
- By following this leave allowance, employers can begin to wrangle their schedules into some form of order, since you will know that you cannot expect any employee to come into work if they work any part of their day as an election official.
- Providing leave this way can help employers build stability in their schedule and give employees a sense of support. That’s because it allows them to know that they don’t have to try and scramble to match up their schedules, and they have as much time as they need to take part in the democratic process.
Other requirements for election official leave
As with voting leave, employers often have other questions, like how much notice employees need to provide, whether they need to provide proof of the need for leave, or whether employers still have to pay their employees despite the fact that they are also paid by the state for their service. Refer to the table above for guidance here.
Keep in mind that this review is not 100% comprehensive and you should still review the law before making your leave decisions.
Next steps for employers
You can prepare for these requirements by reviewing your current leave policies to make sure they are in line with the law.
With such a divisive political climate, you may also be wondering how you can manage your employees’ political activity in the workplace. We at SixFifty have created a helpful map reviewing each state’s Politics in the Workplace laws for just that purpose.
This area of law is constantly changing and growing and can be difficult to keep up with. SixFifty customers can use our Employee Handbook platform to help create a compliant handbook and individual leave or workplace politics policies for any state—and easily keep up with law changes via automated handbook updates.
You can schedule a demo of SixFifty today if you’d like to learn more.
