Uber is mustering its resources to get out the vote for the upcoming US election day (Nov. 6).
The company said it had partnered with nonprofit When We All Vote to help Uber riders and drivers register for the US midterm elections. It began sharing registration tools with riders through the Uber app earlier this week, and said it would email registration information to drivers and delivery workers. Over the next month, Uber also plans to host voter registration events at around 125 of its driver support centers, called Greenlight Hubs.
On Nov. 6, anyone in the US will be able to locate their polling place and book a ride there using Uber’s app. The company said it is working with nonprofits #VoteTogether and Democracy Works to offer free rides to the polls for voters in low-income, high-needs areas where transportation is a challenge.
Uber said it had 900,000 drivers in the US at last count. The company’s voter push follows rival Lyft’s, which said in late August that it would discount rides to the polls by 50% on election day, and provide free rides to underserved communities with the help of nonprofits. Lack of transportation is one of the main barriers to voting for millions of Americans.
It’s not just ride-hailing: Many technology companies are using their massive online platforms to encourage America to vote in the upcoming midterm elections. Facebook worked with TurboVote, as did Snapchat, to register users to vote. Google dedicated its Google Doodle to voter registration tools on National Voter Registration Day (Sept. 25), which saw a record 800,000 people register to vote, half a million more than organizers had expected.