One of the easiest ways for nonprofits to maximize voter participation in the 2024 election is to encourage their staff to vote if they are eligible to do so. In addition to reminding employees to check their voter registration status, nonprofits can help make sure that their staff have the opportunity to vote by offering paid time off to vote during Early Voting or on Election Day and paid time off for staff to volunteer as nonpartisan poll workers. To make it easy for your nonprofit to adopt this type of policy, the Center is sharing our own policy, which you are free to use as a model for your own organization:
“Voting and Election Day. The Center encourages all employees who are eligible to vote to participate fully in the electoral process. Any Center employee may take paid time off work on Election Day or during the Early Voting period to vote in any primary, general, or run-off election. Employees should notify their supervisors of the time they plan to take off for voting.
“Center employees also may take up to one day per year of paid time off to volunteer in a nonpartisan role as a poll worker on Election Day or during the Early Voting period. Employees must get prior written approval of their supervisors (which shall not unreasonably be denied) before taking this paid time off. Employees volunteering for political parties or campaigns on Election Day or during the Early Voting period may not be paid for their time engaging in partisan political activities, but they may take annual leave for any time spent volunteering for candidates or political parties.
“Paid time off for voting and nonpartisan election volunteer work is in addition to annual leave, sick leave, and personal leave that employees have accrued. Employees are not required to use annual leave, sick leave, or personal leave when they take paid time off to vote or to volunteer as a nonpartisan poll worker pursuant to this policy.”
Many nonprofits require board approval for changes to personnel policies. If this is true for your organization, now is the time to get board approval of a policy to give your staff paid time off to vote. The sooner your board approves a paid time off for voting policy – and communicates clearly to all staff about their opportunity to take paid time off to vote (and possible to volunteer as nonpartisan poll workers) – the more likely that your employees will actually vote this fall.