Because Election Day isn’t a U.S. holiday, many American adults are at work on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November, the day designated for federal, state and local general elections. But 28 states and several thousand companies guarantee workers time off to vote.
Without a federal law guaranteeing voting leave, some workers may take a financial hit if they need to leave work to cast their ballots, depending on the state in which they live and work.
Making Election Day a federal holiday has been proposed multiple times, with the most recent measure introduced earlier this year by Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California, via the Election Day Holiday Act, which is now stalled in Congress. She cited a study that found 26% of Americans report that obligations including work kept them from the polls.
“No one should be unable to vote because they have to work or care for a family member,” Rep. Eshoo stated in February.
Four years ago, 62.8% of people of voting age cast a ballot for President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump, representing the highest turnout in decades for a U.S. election yet still trailing that of many nations in the developed world, according to Pew Research.
Why is Election Day on a Tuesday?
Americans continue to vote based largely on the needs of 19th-century farmers. As Bloomberg’s Claire Suddath noted, Election Day lands on the day deemed most convenient for those legally allowed to vote in 1845: White men.
As the most common occupation 179 years ago was farming, and many attended church on Sunday but also needed a full day to ride into town to vote, Congress went with the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, when most planting and harvesting was done.
These days, many working Americans are at their jobs on Election Day while their children have the day off from schools that double as polling sites, oftentimes leaving parents scrambling for childcare. The difficulties prompted the nonprofit Politisit and partners to offer free Election Day child care options in multiple states, including Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Which states having voting leave laws?
At a time when 80% of employed Americans work on weekdays, it can be hard for many to take off in the midst of a Tuesday to vote, prompting some states to adopt measures such as early voting and mail-in balloting.
Further, 28 states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring workers be given time off to vote, with most but not all stipulating that workers not take a financial hit. In addition, North Dakota has a law encouraging — but not mandating — that employees be given time off.
The following states require voting leave, with the exact rules varying by state, according to a state-by-state rundown written for employers by Fisher Phillips, a labor and employment law firm:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Do companies have to give time off to vote?
Without a federal law, voting leave is based on state regulations — but corporate America has also weighed in.
More than 2,020 companies have signed on to Time to Vote, a nonpartisan, business-led initiative launched in 2018 by Levi Strauss, Patagonia and PayPal to increase participation in U.S. elections by committing to giving their workers a schedule that allows them to vote.
This year, Ikea is for the first time offering up to two hours of paid time off to vote on Election Day. “Any co-worker who works more than 20 hours per week qualifies for this benefit,” a spokesperson for the furniture retailer said.
