By Jonny Geigle
The Scene staff
Students looking for a way to get to their local polling places for the midterm election can call Uber and ride for free.
The ride-sharing service is partnering with the groups #VoteTogether and Democracy Works to transport U.S. voters on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Uber will deploy a button in its app called “Get to the Polls” so users can quickly determine their polling places.
The promotion was welcome news to general transfer student Rebecca Rand, 21.
“I’m originally from New York, and I’m actually somebody who doesn’t have a license, so it would be my only way to get to the polls unless I had my mother or my grandmother drive me there,” she said.
On Oct. 4, Uber posted a press release about the promotion on its website. It’s designed “to help the millions of Americans who cite transportation barriers as the reason they don’t vote.”
Also this year, the company partnered with the non-partisan, not-for-profit group When We All Vote to provide 125 “Greenlight Hub” facilities to help people register to vote. Oct. 10 was the last day to do so in Missouri.