White Castle will close for 4 hours on Election Day to allow employees to vote

An exterior view of a White Castle restaurant, April 12, 2018 in the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

by: Nexstar Media Wire

Posted: Oct 27, 2020 / 11:00 PM AST

Updated: Oct 27, 2020 / 08:12 PM AST

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(NEXSTAR) – White Castle announced Tuesday that it is closing all of its locations for four hours on Election Day to give employees a chance to vote.

The restaurants will be closed from 7 to 11 a.m., and employees who are scheduled to work Nov. 3 will get those hours as paid time off.

“We have decided to start a new tradition. Starting this year and going forward, White Castle will give team members time to exercise their right to vote in presidential elections,” President and CEO Lisa Ingram said in a statement. “We believe voting is a right of responsible citizenship, and we want all our team members to have that opportunity.”

White Castle, America’s first fast-food hamburger chain, is usually open 24 hours every day except Christmas.

“The introduction of this new tradition underscores just how important we think it is that everybody has time to vote,” Ingram said.

Through the “Time to Vote” campaign, hundreds of companies are committing to giving their employees time off to vote, including some who are designating Nov. 3 as a companywide holiday.

So far, more than 1,700 companies have joined the nonpartisan movement, which was begun by Patagonia, Levi Strauss, and PayPal.