Yellow Jacket InitiativeBy E. Lawrence Anderson, Yellow Jacket Initiative
On October 19, 2026, the Office of Personnel Management published a final rule titled "Administrative Leave for Workforce Realignment and Other Purposes." The title is about workforce realignment. The summary is about administrative leave, reductions in force and deferred resignations. Neither mentions elections. One provision in the regulatory text does.
First, OPM's own explanation. OPM says this part of the rule mostly writes existing policy into regulation. Its July 30, 2025 Agency Policy Template (CPM 2025-12) already told agencies that administrative leave may not be used to cover service by poll workers or poll observers, whether partisan or nonpartisan, paid or unpaid. OPM says limiting this leave to voting itself means agencies do not have to judge whether a given kind of election service is partisan. It also says the rule does not stop anyone from serving: employees can use annual leave, compensatory time, credit hours, an adjusted work schedule or leave without pay. Administrative leave to vote on a regular election day stays.
What the text does. New 5 CFR 630.1403(b)(5) adds a line to the list of uses for which an agency "may not provide administrative leave": "To cover service by poll workers or poll observers in connection with elections."
In the current Code of Federal Regulations (2026 edition), that list has two items: leave to mark the death of a former federal official, and leave given as a stand-in for a cash or time-off award. The new rule makes it five. The other two additions concern investigative leave past the 10-workday limit and uses for which sick leave could be used. The current section also names "voting-related activities" as an example of a recurring use agencies may set a policy for.
In the preamble, OPM says it directly: "OPM acknowledges that this provision changes OPM's prior policies that agencies could allow limited administrative leave for nonpartisan poll service." OPM calls those policies a departure from the government-wide approach that existed before 2020, which focused on leave to vote. Commenters said the earlier guidance allowed up to 4 hours. That figure is the commenters' description, not OPM's.
The voting-leave example that remains, 630.1403(c)(2), is narrower than "voting-related activities." It covers "an employee who has not voted early," and only "on a regular election day."
Timing. The rule takes effect November 18, 2026, after the November 3 election. The rule itself does not govern this election. Under OPM's account, the 2025 template already did.
The second change: withdrawing a resignation. The current 5 CFR 715.202(b) says an agency "may permit" an employee to withdraw a resignation before it takes effect, and may decline "only when the agency has a valid reason and explains that reason to the employee." The new text opens differently: an agency "may, in its sole and exclusive discretion, accept or decline" the request. The valid-reason sentence stays in the new text. What changes inside it is a new example of a valid reason: "the employee's acceptance of benefits provided under a deferred resignation agreement." One sentence carries over unchanged: "Avoidance of adverse action proceedings is not a valid reason."
OPM's reason: an agency may decide it would be inappropriate to let an employee keep paid leave under a deferred-resignation agreement and then withdraw. OPM also says a resignation that was coerced or induced by agency misrepresentation can still be appealed to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Some commenters argued that "sole and exclusive discretion" will narrow that review. OPM disagrees. The rule does not settle the question, and neither do we.
The rest of the rule does what the title says. Agencies may place employees on administrative leave for all or part of a RIF notice period (351.806(b)). Extended leave is allowed for employees who sign deferred-resignation or similar agreements (630.1403(c)(9)), and for employees "with documented allegations of poor performance or misconduct" who resign under a settlement (630.1403(c)(11)).
What we have not established. We do not know how many federal employees served as poll workers on administrative leave before 2025, or whether agencies applied the 2025 template in the November 2025 election or will apply it in this one. Commenters' statements about poll-worker shortages are their claims, and we have not verified them. Our reading of the rule is ours. OPM's reasons are OPM's.
Sources: OPM, Administrative Leave for Workforce Realignment and Other Purposes, final rule, 91 FR 65924 (Oct. 19, 2026), FR Doc 2026-21320, Docket OPM-2026-0397: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-10-19/pdf/2026-21320.pdf. Current text: 5 CFR 630.1403 and 715.202, Code of Federal Regulations, 2026 edition: 630.1403, 715.202. Rule first read October 16, 2026 (public inspection) and re-read October 23, 2026; the Federal Register listed no correction to it as of that date.
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