This year, citizens across the country will take time out of their busy days to vote — and millions of them will use Lyft to do it. And Lyft data can provide a preview of how, and when, they’ll be getting to the polls on Election Day. (Of course, if you’d rather vote early, absentee, or by mail, most states also provide that option.) Here’s a look at which states’ voters go the extra mile (sometimes literally) to make sure their voices are heard.

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 — 5 miles or over — to cast a ballot. A special mention to the riders of Clayton County, Georgia, and Tarrant County, Texas, who traveled more than 7 miles to vote in 2022.

What do the TSA, theme parks, and democracy have in common? Lines. And sometimes, long ones. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that half a million voters in 2016 failed to vote because of poor management of poll 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. 

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 and Michigan, and Wisconsin (around 30 minutes).

Special kudos to the dedicated voters in Cumberland County, North Carolina (which houses Fayetteville), and Duval County in Florida (Jacksonville) for taking, on average, 80 minutes out of their day to practice democracy. We see you.

Of course, 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.

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