Election day in the United States somehow isn’t a federal holiday, and many employers don’t offer paid time off to go vote. Hopefully you already voted early, but if you haven’t, it’s worth sharing that Uber is at least offering discounted rides to polling stations on November 5 so that voting can be a bit more convenient if you can jet out during your lunch break.
The offer will get you 50% off up to $10. To get it, you’ll have to tap a overlay pop-up in the Uber app that reads “Get a ride to vote,” after which the app will automatically locate your nearest polling station and apply the discount to the ride.
Uber is also offering 25% off food delivery orders up to $15 on orders of a $25 minimum. It’s almost impossible to get any food delivered for less than $25, so you should be able to hit that minimum easily.
Lyft is offering pretty much the same offer on rideshare as well as on bike and scooter journeys to a polling place.
Both companies have been done these offers in recent presidential elections as a goodwill gesture to try and engender some public support. If you have to work on election day, it’s at least a potentially nice way to get to a polling place conveniently and save some money on the normal ridesharing fare, which have been elevated since the pandemic. But really, we shouldn’t have to rely on the goodwill of some private companies for this service. The presidential election should be a federal holiday, and employees at the minimum should receive time off to go vote, even unpaid (though it should be paid).
With Iowa apparently flipping to Kamala in a recent closely-watched poll and the race looking close in other states, make sure you get out and vote this Tuesday. Or in the words of Hillary Clinton, “Pokémon Go to the polls.”
