Election News

Dallas gets free rides and drink discounts for voting in Presidential election

These are appealing to people who collect Presidential memorabilia.

Photo courtesy of Flying Saucer

From now until November 3, you can expect no shortage of information and aids to encourage a robust participation in the 2020 Presidential election.

Around Dallas-Fort Worth, incentives are already being offered, whether in the form of drink specials or free rides to the polls.

Here's the latest batch of election-related activities:

Candidate pint glasses
Craft beer chain Flying Saucer Draught Emporium has debuted its 2020 U.S. presidential candidate pint glasses, with two collector glasses each bearing a cartoon version of the two candidates.

This is a longtime tradition: Since 2004, Flying Saucer fans have correctly predicted the election outcome by purchasing the glass of their preferred candidate and created a must-have for Presidential memorabilia collectors.

The idea is that you buy a glass in the image of your preferred candidate and thereby participate in an unofficial pioneer poll to predict the next president. You can each glass for $15 at their locations, or $20 online, or you can buy the set of both in a collector's box for $25 at their locations or $35 online.

Nationwide shipping is available and included in online orders.

Vote and get $2 off
Another Round, the new indoor mini golf spot located adjacent to Sylvan Thirty featuring 12 miniature golf holes with a full bar, is helping to promote the vote with a special drink offer: They're offering $2 off any of their cocktails when guests 21+ wear their "I Voted" sticker, from Tuesday October 13 through Saturday November 7. That's generously four days after the election. Huzzah.

Reservations are required; go to anotherrounddallas/rsvp.

Trinity Metro free rides
Throughout early voting and on Tuesday, November 3, Tarrant County voters will be able to catch free rides to the polls on Trinity Metro and other transit providers. Riders can show their voter registration card or current Texas ID and ride for free during early voting October 13-30 and on Election Day November 3.

The Tarrant County Commissioners Court approved a partnership with transportation services in Tarrant County to pay for customer trips to voting locations, with an amount not to exceed $20,000.

Tarant County Judge Glen Whitley says in a statement that the goal is to give every eligible voter in Tarrant County the ability to vote.

Wayne Gensler, Trinity Metro VP, says that "voting is an important right and we want to do our part to help voters get to the polls. We appreciate the Tarrant County Commissioners Court for funding this initiative."

Transit services included in the program are Trinity Metro's bus routes, Near Southside ZIPZONE, Crowley ZIPZONE, Mercantile ZIPZONE, ACCESS paratransit, Tarrant County Transportation Services (TCTS), Northeast Transportation Services (NETS), and Arlington’s Via and Handitran. For ZIPZONE riders in Crowley and Near Southside, free rides will be determined by the pickup's or proximity to a voting location.

DART free rides
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is once again providing free trips to voting locations across the service area. Voters can ride at no charge on all DART bus, light rail, Dallas Streetcar, GoLink and Paratransit service, and on the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) between EBJ Union Station and CentrePort/DFW Airport Station.

DART will provide free rides to voters on the following days, all day:

Early voting on Saturday, October 17 and Saturday, October 24
Election Day, Tuesday, November 3

American Airlines Center (AAC) Election Super Center
Dallas County voters can ride DART Rail’s Green or Orange lines or the TRE right to Victory Station at the American Airlines Center, which is hosting a mega voting center on Election Day as part of the Election Super Center Project.

Alto free rides
Alto, the Dallas-based rideshare and delivery company, will also provide free rides to election polls throughout its coverage areas in Dallas-Fort Worth (and Houston) on Election Day, November 3. Voters with an Alto account can access two rides, up to $15 each, by entering promo code VOTE2020 into the Alto app.

Alto founder and CEO Will Coleman says in a statement that Alto is proud to mobilize voters on this important day.

"We hope that this small act of providing complimentary rides to local polling centers will encourage North Texans to get out and exercise their right to vote," Coleman says.

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who needs a raise?

Here's the income it takes to be in the top 1 percent in Texas in 2026

Hundred dollar bills, top 1 percent earners, income study

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

The income needed to be ranked among the top 1 percent of earners in Texas has snowballed past $800,000.

In a state where local billionaires are wealthier than they've ever been, high-earning Texans need to make $73,000 more than they did a year ago if they want to be among the top 1 percent of earners, a new report has revealed.

SmartAsset's latest study analyzed income thresholds for the top 1, 5, and 10 percent of earners in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, using 2022 IRS data for individual tax return filers (the most recent year available), adjusted to 2026 dollars.

Texas has the 11th highest income threshold, with residents needing to make a minimum of $817,158 to be considered among the top 1 percent of earners statewide. In 2025, Texans needed to make about $744,000 to be among the top 1 percent.

For comparison, residents living in the nation's capital must make at least $1.16 million to qualify as top 1 percent earners. The District of Columbia led the nation with the highest income threshold to be a top earner.

To be considered among the top 5 percent of earners in Texas, a resident would need to make $312,671. The income threshold to be considered among the top 10 percent is $210,609.

SmartAsset additionally found that 128,130 Texas residents qualified as top 1 percent earners in 2022. Nationally, the report estimated that fewer than 2 million households earn enough to be considered among the top 1 percent of earners nationwide, but 23 million households rank among the top 10 percent.

"In some places, households can enter the top 1 percent at income levels that fall well below the threshold elsewhere, reflecting an uneven landscape of wages and wealth," the report said.

A separate SmartAsset study that tracked the upper and lower thresholds for middle class households found Dallas residents need to make anywhere from $49,549 to $148,646 to maintain their middle class status. But in other North Texas cities, residents can make up to $291,000 — a figure that would place them between the top 5 and 10 percent of earners — and still be labeled "middle class."

The top 10 states with the highest thresholds to be considered in the top 1 percent of earners in the U.S. are:

No. 1 – District of Columbia ($1,156,664)
No. 2 – Connecticut ($1,147,898)
No. 3 – Massachusetts ($1,006,921)
No. 4 – California ($987,325)
No. 5– New Jersey ($969,976)
No. 6 – New York ($959,562)
No. 7 – Florida ($956,449)
No. 8 – Washington ($903,303)
No. 9 – Colorado ($828,772)
No. 10 – Wyoming ($819,014)

income finance smartasset reports salaries