3

Today, November 8th, is election day in the United States. In my state, the polls close at 8pm this evening.

In my company, approximately once every two months, we have a deployment day, which is basically when everyone in my department is at work from 2pm to about 10pm, and it's assumed that nobody really leaves work during that time.

However, I was not able to vote this morning for personal reasons. Our state has early voting, so I really should have voted in the past couple of days. However, I didn't, and that's my fault.

How should I go about dealing with this? Should I accept the fact that I should have voted early (I knew that our deployment day would be on the 8th)? Should I talk to my boss and try to get out of deployment for an hour to go vote, which would make some people very unhappy?

Finally, I live in a state where my vote could potentially be important. Thanks for your help!

Improve this question
7
  • 3
    Advice on what to do is probably off topic. If you want to restructure the question to be "how can I ask my manager for an hour off", that would be on topic. But we'd need more information about who is going to be "very unhappy" and why. If you're integral to the deploy, for example, that's a different matter than if you're just on standby in case something goes wrong and 10 other people could handle anything that comes up. If you could really vote in an hour (which may not be possible depending on late night lines), the question of why you didn't vote at lunch would also be interesting.
    – Justin Cave
    Nov 8, 2016 at 19:20
  • 2
    You have the right to vote. It cannot be denied. The only thing they can do is not pay you for the time you are gone.
    – user41891
    Nov 8, 2016 at 19:20
  • 1
    Have you tried to ask for the time to go vote? How long would you anticipate being away from the office?
    – IDrinkandIKnowThings
    Nov 8, 2016 at 19:22
  • 6
    @SiXandSeven8ths, many states do not require workplaces to give time off to vote, it most certainly can be denied. Further of the ones that do, it is about often setting schedules so that the person has time available to vote, if , as he chose to do by not voting before the day started, the person doesn't vote then, well too bad, so sad. findlaw.com/voting-rights-law.html
    – HLGEM
    Nov 8, 2016 at 20:12
  • 3
    @SiXandSeven8ths, they aren't blocking his right to vote. He likely had 6 or more hours away form work when he could have voted (most polls open at 8:00 AM or earlier). His employer is not liable for him not voting in that time.
    – cdkMoose
    Nov 8, 2016 at 20:29

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
10

Talk to your boss. They don't have to give you the time off but it's within their power to do so. Apologize for being irresponsible in not doing this thing you feel is important at an earlier opportunity and ask for the opportunity to do it. Be prepared for the answer to be no but you may be pleasantly surprised.

Improve this answer
2
  • 9
    You may also need to explain the "personal reasons" that prevented voting in the morning. It would generally be reasonable for the employer to assume that not starting work until 2 p.m. allows plenty of time for voting before work.
    – Patricia Shanahan
    Nov 8, 2016 at 20:35
  • The only reasonable solution I think
    – Kilisi ♦
    Nov 9, 2016 at 5:40

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .