Prince George's bill would give county employees Election Day off

Prince George’s County employees could get Election Day off under a bill that would turn the general election into a county holiday, a move aimed at a workforce that makes up nearly 14% of county residents and a turnout rate that lagged behind most of Maryland.

Council Member Wala Blegay, an at-large member of the Prince George’s County Council, introduced CB-39-2026 on Tuesday, May 5. The proposal would make the general election a county holiday each year for county employees, while leaving primary and special elections outside the holiday calendar.

The push comes after Prince George’s County posted a 66.35% turnout rate in the 2024 presidential general election, the second-lowest in the state. County election data also show that 21% of registered voters in Prince George’s County voted in person that year, a figure Blegay has pointed to as evidence that work schedules still shape how many people make it to the polls.

The bill would not start from scratch. County code already says no regular or special holiday can be observed on the same day as a primary, general or special election for county or state offices, and a liberal annual leave policy is already in effect on election days. In practice, the proposal would replace a leave policy with a full county holiday for one election in the cycle, giving employees a guaranteed day off instead of asking them to use leave or fit voting into a workday.

That change could ripple through county operations. Prince George’s County holidays are normally announced each year by executive order from the County Executive, and the county’s holiday list includes days such as New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and County Employees’ Appreciation Day. Adding Election Day would expand that calendar and could affect staffing in offices that still need to operate while polling places are open across the county.

The proposal also goes beyond existing voting-leave rules. Maryland law allows employees up to two hours of paid time off to vote on Election Day, while federal employees can receive up to four hours of paid administrative leave for voting. Blegay’s bill would make the county government itself absorb the cost of a full day off for its own workers, a sharper intervention than early voting, absentee ballots or leave rules alone.

For Prince George’s County, the central question is not whether voting matters. It is whether changing the work schedule for thousands of public employees would produce a measurable turnout gain, or mostly give county workers a paid day away from the office. The answer will determine whether CB-39-2026 becomes a real turnout tool or just another holiday on the county calendar.