Idaho: Voting Leave Requirements

Idaho has no time-off-to-vote law

Idaho 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.

In practice, an Idaho employee who needs to vote uses early voting or an absentee
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

Idaho's election crimes do reach the employer relationship, but not by granting
leave. Section 18-2319 makes it unlawful to attempt to influence any voter's vote
by threats — and the threats it lists expressly include "discharging from
employment," along with threats of violence, withdrawing business, enforcing a
debt, or bringing a lawsuit or prosecution. In other words, an employer may not
try to steer how an employee votes by threatening the person's job.

Section 18-2319 does not set its own punishment, so the general election-penalty
section applies: under § 18-2315, a person who willfully violates Idaho's election
laws faces a fine up to $1,000, imprisonment up to five years, or both. (A separate
section, § 18-2318, governs electioneering at the polls, not the workplace.)

This protects an employee from being pressured about how to vote. It is not a right
to leave work to vote.

What trips people up

Because Idaho makes job-based voter coercion a crime, it is easy to assume the
state also guarantees voting time. It does not. Section 18-2319 targets threats
used to influence a vote; it says nothing about giving an employee time off or pay
to go to the polls.

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

Common questions

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

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

Can my employer threaten my job over how I vote?

No. Section 18-2319 makes it a crime to try to influence a voter's vote by threats,
and "discharging from employment" is one of the threats it names.

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

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

Statutes and sources

• Idaho Code § 18-2319: bars attempts to influence a voter's vote by threats,
  expressly including discharge from employment — official code text
  (accessed July 13, 2026).
• Idaho Code § 18-2315: penalty for election-law violations not otherwise punished
  (fine up to $1,000, up to 5 years, or both) — official code text
  (accessed July 13, 2026).