Should Election Day be a Paid Holiday?

John Krautzel
Posted by in Career Advice


Election Day doesn't have to be a hot-button political issue at the office. Voting is a key American right for anyone over the age of 18. An initiative by one Seattle woman wants to take the stigma out of missing work to vote with a unique concept of a paid holiday during the prominent day in early November.

Statistics

A survey by Pew Research indicates 35 percent of registered nonvoters said they were too busy to vote on Election Day. Other obligations, such as work, school or children, got in the way of showing up at the polls. Noah Fradian of Seattle noticed these statistics, so he formed the advocacy group Take Tuesday in June 2016. His movement to make Election Day a paid holiday with companies gained traction very quickly.

Forward-Thinkers

Fradin urges private companies to add paid time off so employees can engage in the democratic process of casting votes. He believes employees shouldn't have to worry about sacrificing hourly wages to decide if they can vote. Companies may even consider an Election Day holiday as a recruiting tool to help retain millennials in the workplace. Employers that offer a better work-life balance to younger works show they think progressively and care about the well-being of workers.

Pledges

As of August 2016, just two months into the existence of Take Tuesday, more than 100 companies across the United States pledged to give workers time off to vote in November. Some of these firms include Casper, Thrillist Media and DataXu. These companies decided to make Election Day a holiday for every employee in those businesses. Take Tuesday uses a nonpartisan stance to encourage everyone to vote, as some politicians and lawmakers from both major political parties, including President Barack Obama, support creating this new national holiday.

Ultimate Goal

The ultimate goal of making the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November a holiday is to affect the outcome of an election. If statistics at the polls show more people voting because they have time off, then the advocacy organization proves it makes a difference. The organization understands that changing the hearts and minds of the private sector occurs one company at a time as opposed to going to Washington to campaign for the holiday through Congress. Fradin said that if Take Tuesday enables one extra person to vote, the group accomplishes its mission no matter if it's because another company agreed to offer paid time off or if the group encouraged more discussions about the democratic process at the office.

Companies should be able to offer this kind of time off to its workers as a recruiting tool. Job seekers who want this kind of benefit should ask about it up front. Election Day is a vital part of the American process, and it only occurs once every two years. Workers shouldn't have to make a tough decision about casting votes or earning money, even with the rise of absentee ballots and mail-in votes.


Photo courtesy of Theresa Thompson at Flickr.com

Comment

Become a member to take advantage of more features, like commenting and voting.

  • Mala R.
    Mala R.

    If you really want to vote, it's not that time consuming. Most people vote by mail. You work on your ballot when you have time, put a stamp on it and drop it in the mail box. It's not a companies responsibility to make their employees be civically responsible.

  • Ross F.
    Ross F.

    Election Day should be a National and State holiday--voting is a critically important part of our civic duty and more needs to be done to increase voter turn-out. However, the condition to be a paid holiday--or perhaps better: a Federal or State Income Tax reimbursement/credit for compensation in-kind--should occur if, and only if, the voter actually signs-in at the voting precinct. If you don't sign-in to vote, you don't get the credit or refund. Secret-balloting is not impacted at-all--as it is the precinct entry check-point and not the actual ballot that is being verified. This could help raise voter rates to above 90%--at least among all people who file Federal and State taxes. Currently, the voter general rate is only about 50-55% in major elections, and often around 10% in local elections. No wonder we get extremist, malevolent, self-serving or incompetent representatives. Blaming public elections for closed public schools is absurd--blame the county secretary for choosing a school site over a public library or other public building (post office, civic center, sports center, urban-park) instead.

  • Maxine s.
    Maxine s.

    No, the inly rwason some school districts close is because the building is used for voting. Otherwise, the rest of us have 12 hours to arrange to vote.

  • Phil J.
    Phil J.

    No, this is just someone shifting the responsibility to manage their schedule to the government in terms of a law or regulation. Polls are typically open 7am to 7pm as well as absentee and early voting. Seems like another unnecessary law/holiday. Also like Invcome tax it puts enforcement duty on the business.

Jobs to Watch