What’s red and blue and green all over?  Why, the voting populace, of course!  *ba-dum-DUM*  OK—bad puns aside, as an HR professional or small-business owner, you don’t have to know which candidate your employees are voting for this November 6, but you do have to know your legal obligations to help them cast that vote.

Most states have enacted laws to make it easy for workers to vote on Election Day, and California is no exception.  Here are the basics:

1. On Election Day, employees are allowed up to two hours of paid time off to visit a polling place and vote, if they do not have adequate time to vote outside of working hours.  (Employees can take as much time as they need to vote, but employers are only required to pay a maximum of two hours.)  Typically this time is taken at the beginning or end of the employee’s regular shift, as the law states, but another mutually agreeable arrangement can be reached.  As a refresher, polls remain open from 7AM to 8PM.
2. In California, employees do not need to provide proof of having used that time off to vote.
3. It is the employee’s responsibility to provide you with at least two working days’ notice of the intent to take time off to vote.  This also applies if the employee has reasonable belief that time may be needed.
4. At least ten days before a statewide election, your company needs to post a conspicuous notice displaying the provisions of California Election Code Section 14000 (time off to vote).  A good place to post such a notice is in the employee lounge or break room.  Often, these notices are combined with other employment-regulation postings, such as minimum wage and family leave laws, and remain posted year-round.

Here’s where things get interesting.  You see, fewer and fewer Californians are actually showing up at a polling place to vote.  This is understandable because California is one of the most liberal states when it comes to voting methods.  Registered voters have the option to cast their vote in person on Election Day, to vote early in person, to vote by absentee ballot without needing an excuse, or even to vote absentee on a permanent basis.  (Compare this to New York, where voters must vote in person on Election Day, and can vote absentee only with a valid excuse.)  In the 2012 primary election, 65 percent of California’s ballots were cast by mail, never mind early in-person voting.  So you see, California’s “time off” law isn’t quite in line with modern voting practices, which could create a dilemma for employers.

Even though employees could have easily voted early or absentee, they are still legally entitled to time off on Election Day, and they do not need to provide proof that they used that time to vote.  (So yes, this could amount to two hours of freebie personal time.)  So what if an employee asks for those same two hours off on a different day, to vote early?  The letter of the law allows for time off only on Election Day; the spirit of the law allows for two hours’ time off to vote.  Whether you believe in the letter or the spirit of the law, your company might not want to go to war over two hours’ wages.  Voter turnout isn’t stellar as it is—do you really want to be “that company” that makes it tough for hard-working Americans to vote?  It’s probably not worth inviting a media field day.

Some parting Election Day thoughts from YES! Your Human Resources Solution: consider complying with any reasonable voting-related requests; coordinate all logistical voting-related questions through your Human Resources Department; be consistent in your decisions; and finally, when in doubt about an employee voting matter, seek legal counsel.

Here’s to happy voting this November 6!