ATLANTA, Ga. — Georgians who are worried about fitting a trip to the polls around a work shift on Tuesday have a state law on their side.
Under O.C.G.A. 21-2-404, every employee in Georgia may take the time needed to cast a ballot in a city, county, state or federal race or a party primary where they are registered, as long as they give their employer reasonable notice. The leave is capped at two hours, and the employer is allowed to choose when during the day the worker steps away.
The protection now covers early voting too. A 2023 change in Senate Bill 129, which took effect July 1, 2023, extended the time off to the days set aside for advance in-person voting as well as Election Day itself. The same change dropped an older exception that had denied the leave to workers whose shifts started at least two hours after polls opened or ended at least two hours before they closed.
One question the statute does not answer is pay. Georgia is one of seven states whose voting-leave laws are silent on whether that time must be paid, along with Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to an attorney with the human resources consulting firm Marsh. Georgia is also among 15 states that require workers to give advance notice before taking the time.
Nationally, 28 states and the District of Columbia require employers to provide some kind of leave to vote, payroll services company Paylocity found. The other 22 states have no such law.
Scheduling is a real barrier. In federal Census Bureau survey data from the 2024 election, 17.8% of registered voters who did not cast a ballot said they were too busy or had a conflicting schedule, the second most common reason given.
With early voting over, Georgia voters must go to their assigned precinct on Tuesday with a valid photo ID.
