Election Day rideshare data indicates where, how, and when Americans get to the polls

A recent study estimated that even a one-mile increase in distance to polling locations can reduce turnout by up to 20%. On Election Day 2022, the typical (median) voter using Lyft traveled four miles to poll-like locations (see Methodology section below). But voters in Texas, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and New Jersey traveled significantly farther—five miles or more—to cast a ballot. And the riders of Clayton County, Georgia, and Tarrant County, Texas, traveled more than seven miles to vote in 2022.

What do the TSA, theme parks, and democracy have in common? Lines—sometimes long ones. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that half a million voters in 2016 failed to vote because of poor management of polling places (which includes long waits). And while many states have expanded their mail-in voting options over the past decade, for those who still choose to vote in person, lines over 30 minutes long remain a barrier. 

The dedicated voters in Cumberland County, North Carolina (home to Fayetteville), and Duval County, Florida (Jacksonville), took, on average, 80 minutes out of their day to practice democracy.

Of course, between drop-off and pickup, voters do more than wait in line. All told, the typical (median) Lyft rider spent 50 minutes at a poll-like location in 2022 and more than an hour in D.C., New York, and Illinois.

Things generally moved twice as fast in upper Midwestern states like Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin (around 30 minutes).

One way to avoid anxiety around lines at polls is to vote before Election Day, by mail, or—failing that—as early in the day as possible. That seems to be the practice in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, where voters are most likely to go to poll-like locations before 9 a.m. Meanwhile, in D.C. and New York, where the polls close on the later end, the most popular time to vote is after 5 p.m.

Over the course of the 2022 election, an estimated 2 million people took Lyft rides to the polls — but it was more common in some states than others.

In Georgia, there was an 18% increase in rides to poll-like locations on Election Day in 2022, and in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, a 12% increase. Notably, these states had some of the most competitive Senate races during the last election cycle, suggesting that voters might use rideshare when they feel more is at stake. Meanwhile, Western states like Nevada, New Mexico, and Alaska were much less likely to use rideshare to vote: Activity at poll-like locations increased by only 5% on Election Day.

The sample includes all Lyft rides in the U.S. on November 8, 2022 to/from poll-like locations (see below) by riders who had not previously been dropped off at or picked up from that location. States with an insufficient number of observations in the Lyft data were excluded, as were states where less than 25% of voters did so in person, per the 2022 EAVS Report.

Definitions

• Poll-like locations: Libraries, schools, and civic and religious buildings. 
• How far people travel to the polls: median distance, in miles, to/from the poll-like locations.
• When people vote: The most common time at which riders are dropped off / picked up at poll-like locations. 
• E-day bump: The share of rides to poll-like locations from new riders that year relative to a typical Tuesday in October or November 2022.  
• How long it takes to vote: Median amount of time (in minutes) between drop-off and request for pickup from the same location (excluding requests occurring over three hours after initial dropoff) for riders using one of Lyft's voting coupon codes on November 8, 2022.