Final OPM Rule: Federal Workers Get No Paid Leave to Serve as Poll Workers or Poll Observers, but Can Still Get Time Off to Vote
Federal employees will not get paid administrative leave to serve as poll workers or poll observers, under a final rule from the Office of Personnel Management that is set to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, Oct. 19. Agencies can still give federal workers paid time off to vote.
The rule, titled “Administrative Leave for Workforce Realignment and Other Purposes,” went on public inspection at the Federal Register on Friday. Bloomberg Law first reported the final rule Friday. The rule takes effect 30 days after it is published, according to the document, which puts it after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
WHAT THE OPM RULE SAYS ABOUT POLL WORKERS
The rule adds a new line to the list of things administrative leave may not be used for: “To cover service by poll workers or poll observers in connection with elections.” Administrative leave is paid time off that does not count against an employee’s vacation or sick leave.
At the same time, the rule lists voting as an acceptable use. An agency may, at its discretion, provide administrative leave “to provide an employee who has not voted early with a reasonable opportunity to vote on a regular election day,” the rule says.
OPM wrote that it “does not believe it is appropriate to use administrative leave for other election-related matters beyond facilitating an opportunity for an employee to vote.”
The ban is not new in practice. According to the rule, OPM’s July 30, 2025, template for agency leave policies already said administrative leave may not be used for poll workers or poll observers, “whether that service is partisan or nonpartisan and whether paid or unpaid.” The final rule writes that policy into federal regulations.
HOW OPM ANSWERED THE OBJECTIONS
OPM received 30 comments on its June 29 proposal, including from two unions and three employee advocacy groups, according to the rule. Several commenters objected to the poll-worker ban. They argued it has nothing to do with workforce realignment, discourages civic participation at a time of poll-worker shortages, saves little money and reverses earlier OPM guidance that let agencies allow up to four hours of administrative leave for nonpartisan poll service, the rule says.
One labor organization called limited leave for nonpartisan poll service “an important, pro-democracy policy choice,” according to OPM’s summary of the comments. Another argued OPM gave no reasoned explanation and called the ban an attempt to stifle federal employees’ constitutional rights.
OPM did not change the rule. It acknowledged that the provision reverses its earlier policy allowing limited leave for nonpartisan poll service, but said that policy was itself “a departure from longstanding Governmentwide policies that existed before 2020, which focused on administrative leave for voting, not for poll workers.”
OPM gave two more reasons. It said limiting the leave to voting “avoids placing agencies in the position of assessing whether particular election-related service is partisan or nonpartisan.” And it said the rule does not stop anyone from serving at the polls: “it addresses only whether that service will be subsidized with paid leave from Federal duty, and a decision not to subsidize an activity does not infringe the right to engage in it,” citing a 1983 Supreme Court decision, Regan v. Taxation With Representation of Washington.
Federal employees who want to work the polls can still use annual leave, compensatory time off, credit hours, flexible schedules or leave without pay, the rule says.
WHAT ELSE IS IN THE RULE
Much of the rule deals with workforce reductions. It lists administrative leave as an acceptable use in connection with deferred resignation programs and other workforce realignment efforts, clarifies when an agency may put employees on administrative leave during a reduction-in-force notice period, and gives agencies “sole and exclusive discretion” to accept or deny an employee’s request to withdraw a resignation, according to the document. The rule says an employee’s receipt of benefits under a deferred resignation agreement, such as paid administrative leave, is a valid reason to deny a request to withdraw.
The rule was approved by OPM Director Scott Kupor, according to its signing statement.
Sources: Office of Personnel Management final rule, “Administrative Leave for Workforce Realignment and Other Purposes” (Federal Register Doc. 2026-21320, Docket OPM-2026-0397, public inspection copy, scheduled for publication Oct. 19, 2026); Bloomberg Law (Oct. 16, 2026).
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