The Office of Personnel Management warned federal agencies this week not to give their employees too much time off to vote on Nov. 8, and said that in most cases, workers should be able to squeeze in voting either before or after their regular workday.
OPM Acting Director Beth Cobert sent a memo to agencies Monday that said the government does give workers “limited time off” from work to vote, and that agencies have discretion in how to parcel out this time off.
But Cobert also said there should be ways in most cases to have people vote before or after work, and encouraged agencies to follow OPM’s guidance.
“Typically, polling places throughout the United States are open for extended periods of time, and an increasing number of jurisdictions are offering early voting options,” she wrote. “Therefore, excused absence should rarely be needed.”
Cobert said OPM believes that workers whose polls are not open at least three hours before or after their regular work day can be given time off to reach the polls.
“For example, if an employee is scheduled to work from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the employee’s polling place is open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., the employee should not be granted excused absence for voting, since the employee would still have at least 3 hours after the end of his or her workday to vote,” she wrote.
“However, if an employee is scheduled to work from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the employee’s polling place is open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., the employee may be granted 1/2 hour of excused absence from 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., if requested,” Cobert added.
She warned that employees who normally have a day off on Election Day shouldn’t be allowed to change their day off “solely for the purpose of gaining excused absence for voting.”
Cobert also said excused absences for early voting should only be granted in limited cases, such as when the employee won’t be able to vote on Election Day because of work-related travel.
