Voting Rights

Exercising our right to vote is one of the most fundamental ways we participate in our democracy and shape the future of our country. Our vote impacts who will lead our local and national stage, and the policies, funding and legislation that directly impact federal agencies and our federal workforce. We strongly encourage our membership to make plans to vote in the upcoming nationwide general elections which will take place on November 3rd. To find information on your options for casting your ballot and your voter registration status you can consult the non-partisan Vote 411 site: https://www.vote411.org/ which provides a one-stop location to access information on voting for voting eligible residents of all 50 states. We also want to also bring your attention to your ability and limitations to take administrative leave as a NASA federal employee in order to vote.

The Office of Personnel Management states that:
“the head of each agency (or his or her designee) has discretion to grant administrative leave for voting in limited circumstances in which there is no reasonable opportunity for an employee to vote outside of their regular work hours, and only to the extent that such time off does not interfere with agency operations. Such administrative leave should generally be limited to the hours required to vote and should generally not exceed three hours in length. In addition, agencies should grant administrative leave for early voting on a scheduled workday only when (1) the employee will be unable to vote on the day of the election because of activities directly related to the agency’s mission (such as Temporary Duty (TDY) travel) and cannot vote by absentee ballot or by early voting on a nonworkday, or (2) early voting hours are the same as, or exceed, voting hours on the day of the election. “  

NASA NPR 4.5 further specifies that: 

• "4.5.1 When election polls are not open at least three hours either before or after an employee's regular work hours, supervisors should allow maximum work schedule flexibility, to include telework, to allow an employee to vote. Supervisors may also grant administrative leave for a limited amount of time to permit the employee to report to work up to three hours after the polls open or leave from work up to three hours before the polls close, whichever requires the lesser amount of time off.
• 4.5.2 Extended Commuting Distance. If an employee's voting place is beyond normal commuting distance and vote by absentee ballot is not permitted, the supervisors may grant excused absence (not to exceed one day) to allow the employee to make the trip to the voting place to cast a ballot.
• 4.5.3 Time spent during the workday for volunteering at an election poll is not an excused absence.
• 4.5.4 Supervisors may grant administrative leave for early voting on a scheduled workday only when the employee will be unable to vote on the day of the election because of activities directly related to the agency's mission (such as Temporary Duty (TDY) travel) and cannot vote by absentee ballot or by early voting on a nonwork day."