Monday, October 31, 2016

Why do Illinois state workers get Election Day off?

The State Journal Register reports:
When Illinois voters go to the polls on Nov. 8, most of them will also go to work that day.

State employees will not.

Illinois remains one of a comparative handful of states where General Election Day is a paid state holiday for workers. But why? Definitive answers are elusive.

“It can’t be a good-government thing, because if it’s just state employees, what about local employees? What about people in the private sector?” said Chris Mooney, director of the Institute for Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. “I can’t think of any good reason to do it. If it is to get people to vote, then it ought to be for everybody.”
The "paid" patronage army gets the day off. Please call your office American Political Science Association.