The pandemic is raising concerns over safely voting on Election Day, and some question the reliability of the postal service. Many voters now want to either cast their vote or drop off their ballot in person. A new grassroots organization in Columbus wants to help.

Columbus Stand Up! is organizing a sort of rideshare for early voting. People who want a ride to the county board of elections can call a number and schedule a pick-up, to either cast their ballot in person or drop off an absentee ballot.

“The name of the game right now is recruiting as many drivers as possible, making sure they have a good set up in their car, and then identifying these voters that are going to need these rides in order to exercise their right to vote,” says former congressional candidate and Columbus Stand Up! organizer Morgan Harper.

To prevent coronavirus spread, the group is limiting each ride to one household, requiring masks and putting up barriers within the vehicles.

She says the most common response is appreciation.

“Gratitude, maybe a little bit of surprise that it could be this easy,” she says. “And then ultimately people just wanting to get down to business and figure out how to vote because everyone knows this election is really important.”

While she’s happy to organize the effort, she’s frustrated that it’s needed.

“This is a travesty that we have to spend our time doing this instead of having a government that just makes it as easy as possible for people to vote. That would be ideal,” she says.

Sylvia Sharp lives in Berwick on Columbus’ East Side, about a 20-minute drive from the county’s only drop box on Morse Road. She’s worried about voting in person, and she’s skeptical of the mail right now, citing a letter that took weeks to arrive at a relative in Nashville after her brother’s funeral.

Sharp is retired and disabled, and many people in her social orbit don’t get around great either, so she’s making a point of offering rides for those who want to drop off their ballots.

“We can wear our masks, we can roll the windows down in the car and go there, and they can put it in the box, where they know that, hey, I put it in the box, I was there,” Sharp explains.

Columbus Stand Up, the organization of former Democratic congressional candidate Morgan Harper, is doing the same thing on a bigger scale, organizing a kind of DIY Uber for early voting.

“The name of the game right now is recruiting as many drivers as possible, making sure they have a good set up in their car, and then identifying the folks who are going to need these rides to exercise their right to vote," Harper says.

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Thank you!

Morgan

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