Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a shortage of polling place workers. We have observed the nationwide effort to encourage citizens to serve as polling place workers on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2020. This is especially active in Philadelphia County, where the recruitment and training of nearly 4500 volunteers is in process.
Service as a polling place worker generally requires active voter registration, advance preparation and training, and a commitment to 15 hours of work on Election Day.
We announce a one-time initiative to offer administrative time off to regular staff members who serve as certified polling place workers on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, so that that they may fulfill this important civic obligation during a difficult time without change in status or loss of pay. Serving as a nonpartisan, officially appointed polling place worker is a matter of public record. For this one-time initiative staff members must use the Request Time Off process in Workday before Friday, October 30. The type of time off requested should be “Jury Duty Time Off.” Staff members who intend to participate in the program should obtain supervisory approval in advance and be prepared to verify their service to their supervisors.
Staff members who intend to serve in other nonpartisan volunteer positions, in paid or volunteer partisan positions, or as campaign workers, early-voting processors, mail-in ballot counters, polling place watchers, or Ward/Committee assignees should arrange for the use of Paid Time Off in the usual way.
As always, we encourage supervisors to extend flexibility to staff in order to allow time to vote on Election Day. In Pennsylvania, polling places open at 7:00 a.m. and lines close at 8:00 p.m.