
Uber Will Drive You to the Polls for Free on Election Day - chirau
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/uber-free-rides-to-polls-midterm-elections-2018
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Operyl
So my next concern is for some of the people, that's half the problem. Are
they going to get a free return trip? Probably not. So this is effectively 50%
off, not necessarily 100% free.

~~~
bunderbunder
According to their press release[1], they are offering "$10 off a single ride
to the polls on Election Day on the most affordable Uber option available in
your city." Implying that, if the ride there would cost more than $10, then it
won't be free.

Assuming that Uber's own words are a more accurate description of what they're
doing. It also feels more honest. So I'm hesitant to fault them for how it's
being spun in TFA.

1: [https://www.uber.com/newsroom/update-uber-drives-
vote/](https://www.uber.com/newsroom/update-uber-drives-vote/)

~~~
Rebelgecko
Requiring that the ride is on the cheapest possible uber kinda dampens my
enthusiasm for this. I thought it was a nice gesture for people that don't get
around as well, however (at least in my area), the cheapest Uber option
(Express) often requires a 5-10 minute walk. At that point, you might as well
walk straight to your polling location. I suppose it could be useful to people
in more rural areas, but I don't know how usable Uber is in less dense towns.

~~~
tkxxx7
I'm in Orange County and we don't have express here. SF and LA are the only
places I've seen it.

~~~
ashelmire
Philly has it. I assume New York, Chicago, and other big cities do too.

~~~
tkxxx7
Exactly. Leaving a lot of poor people uncovered by Express. It’s not in
Detroit either.

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sjroot
Seems like the only logical way to compete with Lyft’s offering half off trips
(and free rides for underserved populations).

In case you haven’t heard it enough though: go vote tomorrow. :)

~~~
jliptzin
I like to vote early/absentee/by mail to free up some congestion for those who
prefer to vote in person on Election Day.

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gpm
I wonder what effect this has on the outcome of the election and accuracy of
poles.

I wonder if it could be politicized in the future by offering free rides to
only some people (i.e. don't announce it, just create a button in the app, and
only create the button depending if the users profile suggests they are likely
to vote for party X).

Not to suggest I think this is a bad initiative, I think it's a great one.

~~~
sublupo
Candidates bussing certain people to the poles has been done for a long time

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tareqak
Lyft has something similar going on, but not quite as wide-ranging:
[https://blog.lyft.com/posts/2018/8/22/get-out-the-
vote](https://blog.lyft.com/posts/2018/8/22/get-out-the-vote) .

~~~
colanderman
Lime too, and it's both to and from the polls: [https://www.li.me/blog/lime-
to-the-polls-vote-org-i-am-voter](https://www.li.me/blog/lime-to-the-polls-
vote-org-i-am-voter)

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sandworm101
Uber has its issues when it comes to corporate citizenship, but I have to give
them credit for this. On the other hand I'd like to see them give their
drivers the chance to vote. Imho all employers should be forced to give
employees paid time to vote (an absentee ballot doesn't take all that long).

~~~
djohnston
i agree, it should just be a paid holiday nationally. im optimistic that if
people were given a full day off, they would understand why and the rate of
civic participation would increase.

~~~
jameslevy
Why not just figure out a secure way to allow people to vote from their smart
phones? I know there are some issues to work out, and some political factions
that are _very_ motivated to stop this from happening, but it seems like
everything else is a half measure in terms of lowering the friction to voting.

~~~
gpm
Because we want to focus on solutions that are actually possible.

Smart phones are not secure. Their hardware is not secure. Their operating
systems are not secure. The software running on the operating systems is not
secure. The network they connect to is not secure. The servers they would need
to connect to are not secure. There is no paper trail.

Every argument against voting machines applies 10x more to smartphones.

I say this, while also thinking that if we _could_ securely vote via
smartphone we could have a far more functional democracy than we do today.

~~~
randyrand
If you make it audit-able, it doesn't need to be 100% secure.

Everyone could vote under a username of their choosing, and afterwords could
download the "official" spreadsheet of all votes casted and look to make sure
your username has the correct vote.

The spreadsheet would be a few megabytes at most and could be
duplicated/distributed across different mediums.

The main worry would be someone adding fake usernames and votes to the
spreadsheet. I'm not sure how we guard against this under the current system
either.

~~~
gamblor956
Your solution is worse than the problem. Votes are confidential for a reason--
to prevent voter intimidation, vote swapping, and more. The time to check
one's vote is when it is cast, not after the fact.

The easiest--and still the best--way to vote is by paper. Physical,
unchangeable proof. Easily watermarked/holographed for audit purposes. Lasts a
long time. Requires no special software or hardware. Best of all--it's easy to
trace at every step of the process.

~~~
randyrand
anonymous usernames...

~~~
anoncake
Which you can disclose in advance to whoever bought your vote.

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meltonian
Just wait til the surge pricing kicks in on the way home!

