I’m glued to my social media feeds today as America goes to vote. Among all the pics of people adorned with “I voted” stickers, there were also a bunch of people I follow talking about Pizza to the Polls, a rather ingenious concept that brings together two of our favorite topics at The Spoon: food and technology.
If you haven’t heard about it, Pizza to the Polls crowdfunds pizza delivery for people stuck in very long lines waiting to vote. To send a pie, users visit https://polls.pizza/ and submit a social media link showing a packed polling place, as well as that polling place’s street address. Once the crowd is confirmed, Pizza to the Polls sends in the pies.
And quite possibly the best part? Anyone can donate to make someone else’s time voting a little bit easier/tastier. At the time of this story, Pizza to the Polls has raised more than $218,000 for the 2018 election and sent 5,329 pizzas to 308 polling places in 41 states. For comparison, during the 2016 election Pizza to the Polls raised $43,307 and delivered 2,368 pizzas to 128 polling places across 24 states.
Pizza to the Polls uses Slice to coordinate delivery and says it tries to use local pizza companies where it can. Any money leftover (sorry), will be saved for future elections and/or marches.
Look, though we may be divided as a country, and this is an emotionally fraught, heavy election, pizza is probably the one thing that can bring us all together.