With Early Voting Already Underway And Election Day Drawing Closer, Here Are Several Options Available To Drive You To Your North Texas Polling Place.

Voting may be a right in this country, but the process involved can oftentimes be remarkably convoluted.

And that sucks. Voting should be as easy a task as possible — no matter how hard someone might work in order to make it more arduous.

To be fair, we know voting is different this year. Yes, we’re still very much in the thick of a pandemic in this country, and there are hundreds fewer polling locations now than there were four years ago.

There are also countless layers to the issue of why voter turnout is so low around these parts, with Texas ranking among one of the worst for this in the U.S. 

But one of the worst and most obvious culprits is a lack of transportation. A 2018 analysis that looked at reasons for low voter turnout among young people found that a lack of transportation was one of the top three reasons that non-college student youths didn’t vote. 

The good news here is that Dallas County is already seeing an increase in turnout. On Tuesday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins announced that the county’s 2020 opening day turnout broke a record. 

That’s a great start, for sure. But there’s still plenty more voting to be done.

If you’re a Dallas County resident interested in doing your civic duty this year, you can find an early voting location near you at this link, which will even provide you estimated wait-times for a few of the venues. 

SEE ALSO: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EARLY VOTING AT THE AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER.

And, if you need a ride to the polls, there’s plenty of help there too, with various options for free or discounted rates to voters. Below, we’ve compiled a list of a few such options. (Make sure to follow the hyperlinks to check each of their COVID-19 policies, too.)

  • RideShare2Vote: This voter access organization offers free round-trip rides to Democratic and progressive voters in Dallas, Denton, Tarrant and Collin counties for the entirety of the early voting process (October 13 through 30) and also on Election Day. You can schedule a ride here.
  • DART: Voters can ride any of the Dallas public transit service’s busses, rails, streetcars and more for free on Saturday, October 17, and Saturday, October 24, for early voting. It’s also offering free rides on Election Day.
  • Trinity Metro: Tarrant County voters can catch a hitch a free ride on any of the agency’s modes of transportation through every day of early voting and on Election Day. A voter registration card or Texas I.D. is required.
  • DCTA: On Election Day, Denton County Transportation Authority is offering free rides via its A-train commuter rail, UNT shuttles, Denton & Lewisville public bus systems and more. No proof of voter registration required!
  • Uber: The ride-sharing giant is offering not only an in-app polling location finder, but also up to $14 off of roundtrip rides taken to users’ nearest polling places on Election Day.
  • Lyft: For Election Day, Lyft is offering a discount of 50 percent off any ride for up to $10 with a “2020VOTE*” code.
  • Alto: The Dallas-based rideshare app Alto is offering free fares for rides of up to $15 with a  “VOTE2020” promo code.

Don’t forget: Early voting has already begun in Texas, and Election Day is November 3.

Know of any other organized rides to the polls in North Texas? Give us a shout at [email protected] or @alecspicey on Twitter.

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