Organization helps Gwinnett County woman get to the polls
ATLANTA - A woman who reserved a handicap accessible ride to the polls was left without transportation on Tuesday.
The New Georgia Project told FOX 5 they had too many requests and just could not get to everyone.
With just hours before the polls closed, Natalie Harris contacted FOX 5 News with a desperate request: Help her find a way to get to her precinct. To make that happen, she needed a van with a lift. So, FOX 5 connected her with an area activist.
"I am dedicated to voting, and I’m very grateful to you guys for coming to pick me up," Harris said to Zan Thornton as they picked her up.
Harris says she was left stranded after the New Georgia Project could not send its handicap accessible van because it was overbooked.
The organization told FOX 5 that they did their best to get to all the requests but just had too many reservations and could not guarantee service to all.
"For them to tell me that they don’t have a ride at all, it was extremely devastating," Harris said.
That was not the end of the road thanks to Zan Thornton, of Georgia ADAPT. Thornton dropped everything they were doing and drove nearly an hour to take Harris to her precinct, which was two miles away.
"I’m a disabled veteran and I know how hard it is," Thornton said.
Harris is a survivor of gun violence and is paralyzed from the waist down. She says reliable transportation is a hurdle for those with disabilities.
"We have to get out here and fight for, to be heard, to be seen, to be acknowledged and not continuing with America just pushing us to the side."