Need A Ride To The Polls? Here’s How To Get A Free Or Discounted Ride To Vote On Election Day
It’s finally Election Day 2018 for the midterm elections in the United States, and voters who need a ride to the polls are in luck because there are several options for free and reduced cost rides.
According to a Gizmodo report, more than 50 cities across the U.S. offer free bus rides today, including Los Angeles, Houston, Tampa, and other locations. Plus, rideshare companies Lyft and Uber have discounts available for trips to polling locations.
To get an election day Uber discount, use the code VOTE2018 for $10 off one single ride today. Conveniently, the app also makes it easy to find a polling place when clients enter their home address. Users must have the latest app version installed to take advantage of this special deal, which sadly isn’t available in Michigan and Puerto Rico. To enter the code, tap payment, and type in the coupon.
As for Lyft, voters can receive 50 percent off a ride to their polling location, but trips back home cannot be discounted due to laws prohibiting rewards in exchange for voting. Get Lyft codes via Buzzfeed and the zip code, which reported that more than 15 million registered voters were unable to cast their votes in 2016 due to the lack of transportation. Members of certain underserved communities can also receive a free ride to the polling location based on zip code. Lyft partnered with nonprofits Voto Latino, Student Vets of America, and the National Federation of the Blind to provide this service.
Time reported that 14 percent of people who didn’t vote last time cited lack of a ride to their polling locations as a significant obstacle to casting their ballot. That number rose to 29 percent among the 19- to 29-year-old age group. For 3 percent of registered voters, no access to transportation was the number one reason they didn’t get to let their voices be heard in 2016.
Our mural of unused ballots represents the over 15 million people who were unable to vote in 2016 due to transportation issues. On Nov. 6, get a Lyft ride to the polls for 50% off: https://t.co/uf7L1HuWC3 #TheRidetoVote #Midterms2018 pic.twitter.com/TJf1BYNKiW
— Lyft (@lyft) October 30, 2018
Additionally, the bicycle sharing company Motivate offers free access to bike rides in the form of a free day pass in cities throughout the United States. Locations include Citibike in New York and New Jersey, Divvy in Chicago, Bluebikes in the Boston-metro area, Capital Bikeshare in the Washington, D.C.-metro area, Ford GoBike in California’s Bay Area, and several other major metropolitan areas throughout the country.
Motivate representative Julie Wood said, “As voters make their plans for Nov. 6, we encourage the millions living in cities served by our bike share networks to take advantage of free rides and use bike share to get to and from the polls.”
Plus, Lime scooters in cities across the nation offer free 30-minute scooter rides to polling places today with the promo code LIME2VOTE18.
The hope among all these transportation companies is that lack of transportation will not keep voters from voting in the 2018 midterm elections.
