Catch a discounted ride to the polls

Lyft is getting out the vote. 

The ride-hailing app is offering free and discounted rides to get voters to the polls for the midterm elections coming up in November.

Promo codes for 50 percent off rides through organizations like When We All Vote and Vote.org will hopefully get greater numbers of voters to their polling places at a more affordable, accessible price. Free rides will be available through Voto Latino to make it easier for underserved communities to get to voting locations. 

Mike Masserman, head of social impact at Lyft, said in a phone call that transportation has come up as a reason that especially young and poorer voters don’t vote. “We want to be able to get to as many people as possible,” he said.

Showing up at the polls is just one part of Lyft’s midterm effort. The ride-sharing platform is also reminding passengers about voter registration deadlines (National Voter Registration Day is Sept. 25) on its app and social channels, and giving out registration info to drivers at Lyft’s Hub locations across the country. “We want to make sure our driver community is registered to vote,” Masserman said.

For the 2016 presidential election, Lyft and Uber both stepped up with in-app awareness campaigns and tools to find polling places. Lyft offered discounted rides on Election Day in select markets. Voter turnout for that election was 61 percent of eligible U.S. citizens.

Your next inevitable driver-passenger conversation can be about rocking the vote.