Delaware: Voting Leave Requirements

Delaware has no time-off-to-vote law

Delaware does not require an employer to release an employee to vote. There is no
set number of hours, no paid-time rule, no outside-work-hours test, and no notice
or posting requirement, because no voting-leave statute exists. The chip table
reads "N/A" across those columns for that reason.

Two bills that would have created two hours of paid voting leave (House Bills 225
and 288, both in the 2021-2022 General Assembly) did not pass, so the state never
adopted such a right. In practice, a Delaware employee who needs to vote uses early
voting or an absentee or mail ballot, or arranges time with the employer. Whether
the employer grants that time, and whether it is paid, is a matter of company
policy or contract, not state law.

The one election rule aimed at employers

Delaware's election code does regulate the employer relationship in one narrow
way, but not about time off. Section 5162 makes an employer that hinders, controls,
coerces, or intimidates a qualified elector in exercising the right to vote — by
bribery or by threats of depriving the person of employment or occupation — liable
to that voter for $500 in a civil action the voter brings. A companion provision,
§ 5163, treats a corporate officer's acts toward an employee as the corporation's
own, so a company cannot hide behind a manager who did the coercing.

This protects an employee from being pressured or threatened about voting. It is
not a right to leave work to vote, and it does not itself require paid time or set
any notice rule.

What trips people up

Because Delaware's code gives a voter a money remedy against a coercive employer,
it is easy to assume the state also guarantees voting time. It does not. Section
5162 is about threats and bribery aimed at the ballot, not about scheduling or paid
leave.

If a shift genuinely conflicts with every chance to vote, Delaware law does not
compel the employer to provide time off. Early voting and an absentee or mail
ballot are the practical fallback.

Common questions

Does my Delaware employer have to give me time off to vote?

No. No Delaware statute requires time off to vote, paid or unpaid.

Is there any workplace voting protection at all?

Yes, a different kind. Under § 5162, a voter may sue an employer for $500 for
hindering or coercing the vote by bribery or by threats to the person's employment.

What if I cannot get to the polls around my shift?

Use early voting or an absentee or mail ballot, or ask your employer. State law
leaves the scheduling to the employer.

Statutes and sources

• 15 Del. C. § 5162: $500 civil remedy for an elector coerced or threatened about
  voting by bribery or threats to employment — official code text
  (accessed July 13, 2026).
• 15 Del. C. § 5163: imputes a corporate officer's coercive acts to the
  corporation — official code text
  (accessed July 13, 2026).