--- title: These Companies Made Election Day a Holiday So Employees Can Vote description: On election day, employers like Patagonia and many in the startup world and beyond will give their entire workforce the day off to cast a ballot. authors: - name: Kristen Bahler role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/ bio: Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. Today, she leads Money's sponsored content channel and reader-favorite franchises like Best Places to Live and Best Places to Travel. education: Northeastern University, MA Journalism at_money_since: 2016 articles: 52 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bahler/ published: '2016-10-28T20:40:30.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T11:56:47.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Careers - day off - Election 2016 - pubdesk - vote word_count: 265 canonical: https://money.com/election-day-holiday-day-off-work-voting/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![US-POLITICS-EARLY-VOTING](https://img.money.com/2016/10/gettyimages-612898578.jpg) [Every election year](https://money.com/president-obama-election-day-national-holiday/), voting rights activists lobby legislators to make election day a federal holiday. Allowing employees a day off to head to the polls, the thinking goes, will increase voter turnout and improve the electoral process. But every year, their efforts fall flat. Some states, like New York, require employers to allow its workforce a few hours at the start or end of the day to hit the voting booth, but there's no guarantee of pay. Many voters nationwide have a hard time squeezing the trip into a hectic workday regardless of their state's policy. This year, some employers are taking matters into their own hands. On Nov. 8, a handful of companies will close shop to give their workforce ample time to vote. Most of the movers and shakers come from the [startup world,](http://takeoffelectionday.com/?ref=producthunt) but a few national companies have also gotten on board. Patagonia, which has 29 stores and 1,800 employees, is giving all workers a paid holiday on election day, according to [*The Associated Press*](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2016-10-28-US-Election-Day-Off-Patagonia/id-fb59a45e664b4ab5ab8675d6d3a0100f). The movement follows not-so-gentle prodding from venture capitalist Hunter Walk, a partner at the VC startup Homebrew, who Tweeted [a chain of messages](https://twitter.com/hunterwalk/status/762692011430285312) encouraging CEOs to give employees the day off this summer. In response, about [300 employers](http://www.wsj.com/articles/should-you-get-a-day-off-on-election-day-some-employers-think-so-1476799202) have said they are willing to allow workers time off on election day. Here's a running list of the big ones that have publicly announced they'll close shop on Nov. 8: - Patagonia - Spotify - Salon - TaskRabbit - Square Inc - Enigma - Thrillest Media Group - Casper Sleep Inc. - Home Brew - Survey Monkey - About.com - Crisis Text LIne - Autodesk - Managed by Q - Evernote ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/election-day-holiday-day-off-work-voting/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Elections", "item": "https://money.com/elections/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "These Companies Made Election Day a Holiday So Employees Can Vote" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/election-day-holiday-day-off-work-voting/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/election-day-holiday-day-off-work-voting/", "name": "These Companies Made Election Day a Holiday So Employees Can Vote", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-10-28T20:40:30.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/election-day-holiday-day-off-work-voting/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/election-day-holiday-day-off-work-voting/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T11:56:47.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "These Companies Made Election Day a Holiday So Employees Can Vote", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/10/gettyimages-612898578.jpg", "width": 5200, "height": 3471, "caption": "US-POLITICS-EARLY-VOTING" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kristen Bahler", "url": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/#author", "description": "Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. 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