August 23, 2018
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
Voting machines at a polling location in the dining room of The Gold Standard Cafe on Baltimore Ave. in West Philadelphia on Tuesday, May 15, 2018.
Lyft announced today it will provide half-off rides across the country and free rides for underserved communities on Election Day this November.
The company announced its “The Ride to Vote” initiative in a blog post Thursday, ahead of the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 6.
The company cited a study from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, which estimated more than 15 million people were unable to vote in the 2016 election because of transportation issues.
Lyft said it is parterning with Vote.org, Nonprofit Vote, and TurboVote, among others, to distribute the half-off codes to those who need help reaching the polls. And for “underserved” communities, Lyft said, it will provide rides free of cost through partnerships with Voto Latino, local Urban League affiliates, and the National Federation of the Blind.
The blog post did not specify what its specific criteria are for the communities it will decide receive its free rides.
Lyft told HuffPost the rides will be one-way trips “in order to avoid infringing on voter fraud protections.”
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