Former South Park Writer Toby Morton Offers Free Rides to North Texas Polls on Election Day

Former South Park and Mad TV writer Toby Morton has been buying up URLs ahead of the midterm elections to create parody campaign sites for the likes of Gov. Greg Abbott, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Colorado representative Lauren Boebert and plenty of others.

Morton doesn’t pull any punches with what he calls his GOP Sycophant Websites. Here’s a taste from Morton’s site governorgrebabbott.com: “I am partly responsible for the deaths of students killed in school shootings,” the page reads. “My current goal is to make sure you forget about the clusterfuck called Uvalde.”

But on Tuesday, Morton will be doing more than making fun of Abbott and others up for election. He’ll help some North Texans get to the polls, where they’ll be able to help pick the state’s next governor: Abbott or Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke.

“We’ve got three vans that each seat 10 people comfortably,” Morton wrote on Twitter Sunday. “So far 30 people on the docket for rides to polls on Tuesday in DFW and Arlington, TX area.” He directed people to his Abbott site to contact him if they needed a ride to the polls. The next day, he rented a fourth van.

Although Morton is based in Oklahoma, he’s been spending some time in Texas recently to take care of family. Since he’s been here, he’s heard a lot of people say they didn’t plan to vote.

“Being in Texas and seeing quite a few people not planning to vote was a bit distressing,” he told the Observer. “There were so many I ran across who simply said they didn’t have time to vote so I got the word out that I’m happy to drive them around. As of right now we have four vans and plans to drive roughly 70 to 80 people.”

Morton said that number could change. But he’s not the only one helping people get to the ballot box to cast their votes.

Several local transit agencies, for example, are offering free rides to the polls on election day.

On Tuesday, voters can ride Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) free of charge including all buses, trains, the Dallas Streetcar, GoLink, Paratransit Services and the TRE between EBJ Union Station and CentrePort/DFW Airport Station. Proof of voter registration isn’t required to get a free ride, according to DART. Those planning to use DART’s GoLink services will still need to purchase a ticket through the app GoPass and plug in the promo code VOTE08 to get a free ride. Otherwise, commuters can tell the DART operator in person that they are going to vote and the ride will be covered. Ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber are offering rides to the polls for 50% off, according to People magazine’s website.

Some might not be too happy about the free rides, at least according to Morton’s inbox. One message he received through his website said: “The microchip you got from your COVID shots will track you on election day and control your vehicles. You will have ‘car trouble.’ Just give up.” Morton shared the message on his social media, saying, “This person is voting tomorrow. Are you?”

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.