Time Off to Vote
The agency should provide up to four hours of administrative leave to vote for the following:
- Federal general election day to include early voting.
- Non-Federal general election day events, such as primaries and caucuses, to include early voting, applicable to the following five levels:
- Federal
- State
- Local (County and Municipal)
- Tribal
- Territorial
- Federal special Congressional elections, to include early voting.
The administrative leave may be also used to cover travel to and from the employee’s local voting location. An employee may use administrative leave for voting in connection with each covered
election event in which the employee participates by voting. Employees are limited to four hours of administrative leave for voting per election event.
Time Off to Serve as a Non-Partisan Poll Worker
Up to four hours of administrative leave per leave year may be granted to serve as a non-partisan poll worker (including training time) or to participate in non-partisan election observer activities (including training time) for Federal, State, local, Tribal and territorial elections. This leave is in addition to any administrative leave an employee uses to vote.
Employees who request to use administrative leave to serve as a non-partisan poll worker or non-partisan election observer must provide documentation to their supervisor identifying their status with their election jurisdiction.
Time and Attendance
Employees must obtain advance approval from their supervisor before using administrative leave to vote or serve as a non-partisan poll worker or observer. Only the actual time necessary may be authorized. For example, if the employee needs two hours to vote, the supervisor may authorize only two hours and not the full four hours.
The time reporting code to use in PeoplePlus to record time taken off to vote or serve as a non-partisan poll worker or observer is VOTIN. Employees are not required to submit a leave request nor enter a work code on the timecard when using administrative leave for these purposes.
Employees requiring more than four hours to vote or serve as a non-partisan poll worker or observer must use another appropriate type of accrued leave (e.g., annual leave, compensatory time off, time-off award, credit hours, etc.) or leave without pay. Also, administrative leave for election events does not apply to non-duty days nor for overtime hours.