Excused Absence for Voting

The Federal Government has had a long standing policy of granting employees excused absence from work to vote in elections when the polls are not open at least 3 hours either before or after an employee’s regular work schedule as long as it does not interfere with operations. When employees are granted excused absence the general rule is they may be permitted to report for work 3 hours after the polls open or leave work 3 hours before the polls close, whichever involves less time away from work. The following are examples of when excused absence may be approved for voting.

• Example 1: If polls are open 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., an employee with duty hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. does not need excused absence because he or she has at least 3 hours after the end of his or her duty hours to vote.
  
• Example 2. If polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., an employee with duty hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. may be approved 30 minutes of excused absence and leave work at 4:00 p.m. This allows the employee up to 3 hours to vote before the polls close.
  
• Example 3: If polls are open 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., an employee with duty hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. may be granted 30 minutes of excused leave and report to work at 9:30 a.m. This allows the employee up to 3 hours to vote after the polls open rather than approving 2 hours of excused absence for the employee to leave work at 3:30 p.m. to vote.

If an employee’s voting place is beyond normal commuting distance and voting by absentee ballot is not permitted, the supervisors may grant excused absence (not to exceed 1 day) to allow the employee to make the trip to the voting place to cast a ballot. If more than 1 day is needed, the employee may request annual leave or leave without pay for the additional period of absence.

Employees on flexible work schedules can be excused only for those hours that cannot be accommodated by their flexible schedule. Supervisors and employees may contact their CPAC for additional guidance regarding excused absence for voting.

Most recent guidance from OPM on excused absence for voting is at
http://www.chcoc.gov/transmittals/TransmittalDetails.aspx?TransmittalID=5057

DoD guidance on excused absence for voting is contained in DoD 1400.25-M, December 1996 (Updated 8 January 2004), Subchapter 630, SC630.7.4.1. http://www.cpms.osd.mil/ASSETS/373A8C17D74846579AB07610D604F2DA/m1400630.pdf