美国国家公共电台 NPR Several States, Some Employers Help Workers Make Time To Vote

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Several States, Some Employers Help Workers Make Time To Vote

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There are predictions that slightly more than half of eligible² Americans will cast a vote in next Tuesday's election. As for the nearly half who might not - well, many people say they don't have the time to stand in line or they're worried about being late for work. About half of states require employers to offer some form of paid leave to vote. Other states tell employers they've got to be flexible. Some have no law at all.

As NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports, finding time to vote can be a challenge.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE³: On Tuesdays, Keyarra Forbes has both classes and a shift working at an optometrist's office, which complicates⁴ her Election Day.

KEYARRA FORBES: I actually tried to get the day off because I wanted to volunteer at the polls. But on that day, we're short-staffed, so I couldn't get the day off at all.

NOGUCHI: Connecticut, where Forbes lives, has no law governing time off to vote, so she's getting up extra early.

FORBES: So I'm going to have to vote, probably, as soon as the polls open because there's usually a very, very long line.

NOGUCHI: During the primaries, she waited in line with a friend who left before voting to make it to work on time. Forbes says if it comes to that, she won't be making that trade-off.

FORBES: Just giving up your vote would be horrible. So I would definitely show up late for work.

NOGUCHI: But why Tuesday? Why must we juggle⁵ voting with commuting⁶, meetings, school drop-offs and whatnot?

BARBARA PERRY: Tuesday does seem like the most inconvenient⁷ time for modern Americans.

NOGUCHI: Barbara Perry is a fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller⁸ Center, on presidential scholarship. She says the 1845 law designating the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November as Election Day did so because it caused the least work interruption.

PERRY: Most people were spending Sundays in church. They were certainly laboring⁹ on Saturdays. Wednesday was market day for farmers, and we have to remember that we were, primarily, an agrarian¹⁰ society at that time.

NOGUCHI: Perry says November was chosen in part to avoid planting and harvest time. But today, November is hectic¹¹ at Phipps Conservatory¹², a botanical garden in Pittsburgh. Executive director Richard Piacentini says his 80 employees are staffing a fall show.

RICHARD PIACENTINI: And we're also getting ready for our big winter flower show, which is our biggest show of the year. So it's a really busy time for us.

NOGUCHI: And even though Pennsylvania has no laws requiring time off to vote, since 2006, Phipps has offered an hour of paid leave to vote. Piacentini says workers seem to appreciate it. Marty Guastella is vice¹³ president of human resources for the Oswald Companies, a Cleveland insurance broker¹⁴. Last year, the company started opening two hours late or giving two hours paid leave on Election Day.

MARTY GUASTELLA: Part of work-life balance is being able to get out and vote.

NOGUCHI: Guastella says the firm informed clients of the policy, which in Ohio, where paid leave is only required for salaried workers, is unusual. Accommodating the change, he says, hasn't been hard.

GUASTELLA: We don't have a situation where entire departments have no staff. But again, keep in mind that our clients - our customers know that we have this policy.

NOGUCHI: Paula Brantner is a senior adviser¹⁵ for Workplace Fairness, a legal advocacy group. She notes Oregon, Washington and Colorado already offer voting by mail.

PAULA BRANTNER: Workers have more options - early voting, relaxed absentee voting. I also see more workplace flexibility¹⁶ in general with people doing teleworking and having flexible schedules.

NOGUCHI: Some states, including New York and Colorado, will revoke¹⁷ a business's charter if it blocks employees from voting.

BRANTNER: That would be the corporate¹⁸ death penalty.

NOGUCHI: And no employer, to her knowledge, has provoked that.

Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.