What's the law about employees voting?

Federal Law.  There is no federal law that requires employers to provide employees time off to vote in a national or state election, but many states have voting leave laws which regulate the amount of time permitted away from the workplace to vote, whether wages may be deducted, and which elections are subject to the requirements for voting leave.

Tennessee.  Tennessee requires private employers to grant time off to vote as follow:

• Employers are required to provide employees up to 3 hours to vote, unless the employee has at least 3 consecutive hours of nonworking time during the time the polls are open.
• The employer may specify the time during which an employee may take leave to vote.
• Employers may not penalize employees for taking voting leave or deduct voting time from their wages.

Employees must apply for a voting leave absence before 12:00 noon on the day before the election.  See Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-1-106 for more information.  

Arkansas.  Private employers in Arkansas are required to schedule an employee's time on election days so that each employee has the opportunity to vote. See Arkansas Code § 7-1-102 for more information

Mississippi.  Mississippi currently has no voting leave laws for private sector employees.