Community members shuttle voters to the polls

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Community members worked to help get people in need of transportation to the polls in one Eastern Carolina county on Tuesday.

In an effort to increase voter turnout, Robert Hudson and Sheila Holloway shuttled voters to the polls.

“We want to increase the number of people to vote. Didn’t matter who you want to vote for, we just want to increase the number of voters,” Hudson said.

For Mica Powell, the shuttle gesture was also a ride, that would otherwise be a walk, to daycare for her and her kids.

“I have no transportation at the moment, but I’m working on it,” Powell explained.

It’s also an exciting day and a first for Robin Chandy, who was born in India. He says he recently received his American citizenship.

“New policies, whether it be our price lines of taking care of our veterans, this is gonna play an integral role in determining a lot of things of what the future is going to hold for our generation,” Chandy said.

A first-timer, a commuter, and a shuttler, all realizing the respective roles they play on Election Day.

“There’s a lot of people I know that can’t vote but they wanna vote. For instance, my fiancé, he’s incarcerated at the moment, and I feel like I’m doing him a favor as well by coming out here and voting,” Powell said.

“She wants to ensure that her future is set and voting was one way to be able to do it so we just want to be able to support that any individual doesn’t matter who you are where you live and also county we want to be able to do that,” said Hudson.

Doctors appointments, daycare pickups, and more were some of the stops Hudson and Holloway fit into the shuttle efforts. They said the whole point behind the shuttle was to remove any room for excuses why people wouldn’t come out and vote.

Both say they’ll be back out shuttling people again for the next election cycle as well.

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