voters have heard the midterm election tv commercials and radio spots for months now it’s time for people to have their say on election day and the majority of states have workleave laws that require employers to give their staff time to cast their vote there are roughly 30 states with voterelated leave laws and more than 20 of those states require paid leave employment law experts note a pending federal bill the time off to vote act would mandate employers give their workers at least two hours of paid leave to vote in a federal election federal workers get up to four hours of administrative leave to vote for nonfederal employees there isn’t one rule for who’s covered the amount of time off and when paid leave requirements kick in according to a statebystate rundown from lawyers at ogletree deakins but the general idea is the job can wait a little bit so get out and vote within a nonpartisan coalition of more than 2000 businesses called time to vote members are taking a variety of steps they include access to information about early voting and election day potentially paid time off or even a day free of meetings before election day more than 45 million americans already cast their vote in person or by mailin ballot according to the us elections project data that’s exceeding the 391 million early voting ballots cast in 2018 but below the 101 million early vote ballots for the 2020 elections here’s a brief overview of the voting leave laws across the country learn more here about lastminute voting tips including resources and rights to remember as a voter delaware florida hawaii idaho indiana louisiana maine michigan montana new hampshire new jersey north carolina north dakota oregon pennsylvania rhode island south carolina vermont and virginia but that doesn’t mean the states are completely silent about workers and elections for instance delaware and new jersey have laws forbidding employers from intimidating workers into casting votes one way or another of course there are federal laws that prohibit voter intimidation in general north dakota’s laws encourage employers but do not require employers to give their workers time to vote in the event their work schedule conflicts with voting hours this list includes wisconsin arkansas kentucky alabama georgia massachusetts and connecticut some state laws delineate the maximum hours allowed like two hours of unpaid leave in connecticut or up to one hour in alabama connecticut workers need to request the time off at least two days before the election and in alabama the timing of the work schedule comes into play the chance for leave kicks in if polls are closed at least two hours before a shift or one hour afterwards lawyers at the firm said in ohio and georgia two states with tight races that could potentially swing senate control the laws do not specify allot leave time in ohio workers can fall into the paid leave category if they are salaried employees alaska arizona california colorado illinois iowa kansas maryland minnesota missouri nebraska nevada new mexico new york oklahoma south dakota tennessee texas utah west virginia and wyoming the district of columbia also offers paid leave to vote in these states however there’s no simple rule on when the pay kicks in and for how long or the process workers need to go through before obtaining the leave according to lawyers at the employment law firm littler mendelson for example it’s up to two paid hours in states such as california colorado illinois kansas maryland nebraska new mexico new york oklahoma south dakota and utah it’s up to three hours in states like arizona missouri tennessee and west virginia